Way Down We Go
by CleverWalnut
Summary: Cindy Moon has had a crush on Peter Parker since the day she fainted on him in P.E., accidentally kicking him in the nuts. Unfortunately, he's too busy chasing a junior to look her way. As if teenage romance, homework, and lost inhalers aren't enough, she also has to deal with an infamous drug lord as her behavior becomes a bit… spider-like. [Full summary inside] PeterxOC, slowburn
1. BOOK I

**Summary**

Cindy Moon has had a crush on Peter Parker since the day she fainted on him in P.E. and accidentally kicked him in the balls. Unfortunately for her, he's too busy chasing a senior to even look her way. And as if teenage romance, homework, and lost inhalers aren't enough she has to deal with a lot more as her behavior becomes a bit, well, spider-like. A boy that swings through the city, lots of bad guys to stop, and an infamous drug dealer who threatens the city. What can possibly go wrong?

Cindy Moon [OC (cuz creative liberties)]/Peter Parker / slowburn

Mix of movies and comics, best of both worlds!

**Cast**

Lana Condor as Cindy Moon/Silk  
_"Short but lethal"_

Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-man (ofc)  
_"Good with secrets, bad with feelings"_

Isabella Amara as Sally Avril/The sidekick  
_"Honest to the grave"_

Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds  
_"Funny with a big heart"_

Zendaya as Michelle Jones  
_"Likes books more than people"_

Jerrika Hinton as Olivia Jones  
_"Good at the advice"_

Tony Revolori as Eugene "Flash" Thompson  
_"Too big mouth for his own good"_

Laura Harrier as Liz Allan  
_"Olivia Jr."_

Terry Quinn as The Kingpin

Of course, imagine anyone you like as you read, these are just my picks :)

**Playlist**

Way down we go – KALEO

Clearly – Grace VanderWaal

Stars Align – Laleh

Hope is a heartache – LÉON

Stone – Jaymes Young

This is us colliding – Talos

Sing of the moon – The collection

Saturn – Sleeping at last

**US to Europe measurement converter **

1 meter ≈ 3,4 feet

1,6 meter (Cindy's height) ≈ 5 feet 3 inches (5"3')

2,5 centimeters ≈ 1 inch

50 kilograms ≈ 110 ibs

**Disclaimer**

"Spider-man" and all its characters (including Cindy Moon) are properties of MARVEL. I only claim ownership of the changes of the plot and Cindy to fit into this subsequent story.

**Author's notes**

Soo this story comes a bit out of nowhere but I've completely lost myself in Spider-man fics so here we are. I hope you like it and like Cindy Moon (who I've changed up a bit) and decide that this is worth your follow!

Please don't steal my work, it's mean and Stan Lee would be disappointed in you.


	2. Chapter 1

"Miss Moon?"

"_Mun_," Cindy corrected, a hint of annoyance in her voice, and a few people giggled behind her. This was the reason she hated subs and it only reminded her that her nickname had been _Sailor_ throughout the whole of middle school. Her regular teachers had learned to pronounce it correctly by now which meant that she finally didn't sound like a cartoon character any more, but then Mrs. Connor had gone and caught the flu so here they were.

God, she hated her name. Or rather, she hated that the fact that her parents had thought _Moon_ was so much better instead of _Miller_. As if they _wanted_ to make her life harder than it was. But her mom was Korean, which meant _Cindy_ was Korean, which meant she had to be proud of her ancestry or something.

"Right," the woman smiled and checked Cindy's name before moving on to the next name on the list. She was annoying, way too perky and way too young to be their teacher – she couldn't be much older than twenty.

A piece of white paper landed in front of her and she quickly snatched it and read it under the table.

"_It's only for today, stop sulking."_

Cindy smirked at her friend seated at the table next to hers but Sally was too busy writing her another one.

"_Are we still doing biology during lunch?"_

Cindy swore softly under her breath before quickly scribbling back.

"_I forgot lunch, have to go to the cafeteria, sorry. My cello's at 4, and we have the dinner tonight, how about tomorrow before school?" _She folded it a few times and threw it over to Sally.

"_Ooh dinner with Pretty Parker! I __**totally**_ _forgot it was today why haven't you mentioned it?,"_ she replied – at which Cindy rolled her eyes – before throwing another note. "_Or you just hurry out of here and buy food before everyone else and then meet me in the library? Or you can share my tuna sandwich."_

Cindy stuck her tongue out in a grimache. Sally knew exactly how she felt about tuna, especially cold tuna spread out on mushy bread. "_Sprint to the cafeteria it is. Can you take my-"_

"Miss Moon?" Cindy's head snapped up and she cringed – once again – at the mispronunciation of her surname. "Anything you'd like to share with the class?"

"Uh- no." She swallowed a small lump in her throat as she noticed how the lesson had already started. The sub raised an eyebrow and cleared her throat a little before continuing.

"No? Then maybe you can enlighten us when the civil war began?" She was looking at Cindy with a very smug expression painted on her face and the girl nearly rolled her eyes at the high-pitched voiced.

"1860," she replied with a nod.

"That's not what I said," the sub began and turned toward the board where she had scribbled _1861_ but Cindy chipped in before she could continue.

"Well the physical war started in 1861, but the political war began when president Lincoln won the election. Mrs. Connor said so last tuesday and it mentions it in the book, page 204." She looked at the sub with a sugary sweet smile and for a moment the woman by the board seemed lost. The woman in question glanced down at the course book and flipped the pages for a few seconds before looking up, the smug look wiped off her face.

"Very well then," the sub exhaled and continued on with the lesson. Cindy looked back at Sally, who mouthed "_cheating"_ at her – hey, she couldn't control the photographic memory thing – and shook her head with a smile before continuing her note.

"_Sprint to the cafeteria it is. Can you take my books so I don't do a Titanic in the middle of the hallway?"_ That was what they called it when she passed out, since the incident in seventh grade... She folded it twice and waited for miss Whatever to turn her back on them before slipping it to her friend, who nodded in reply.

The rest of the lesson went by slowly and most things the sub said were either not quite correct or had already been covered in earlier lessons. Most of the kids seemed relieved by the revision but Cindy wasn't, she didn't need one. Instead she chewed on her lip nervously, going over multiple versions of the dinner party at their house later that evening, with Peter Parker and his aunt. It was more or less the only thing she had thought about for the last two weeks. Her mom and his aunt – May – had been roommates in college and ever since they found out that Peter and Cindy went to the same school they had started arranging dinners a once or twice a year.

When the bell rang she practically jumped to her feet and threw her biology, physics, and history books on Sallys bench before hurrying off.

Even without the heaviest books her bag felt like it was dragging on the ground. She was completely out of breath and hadn't even gotten halfways yet, _and_ the hallway was starting to fill up.

"I can't do this," she breathed quietly, feeling her throat starting to close. Before she had time to do anything – however – something came from the left and she bumped into it, or rather, _him_.

"Oh, Cindy," Peter said and pulled up her bag that had fallen to the ground. He handed it over to her and pushed up his glasses that had slid down his nose a little. He smiled at her but his eyes were tired, probably due to snoozing a little too long this morning…

'_Stop thinking of him in bed!'_ a voice screamed at her and she shook her head a little.

"Gee thanks," she wheezed, swearing to herself about how lame she sounded, and pushed a few strands of hair behind her ear that had loosened from her usual ponytail.

"No worries," he grinned. "Hey tonight's the dinner, right? May-" he lost his words as his eyes focused on someone behind her and his jaw went a little slack. She knew exactly who it was before even turning.

"Hey Peter!" Liz Allan greeted as she passed them, not even noticing Cindy, before continuing her chat with Betty Brant.

"Hey," he breathed out far to low for her to hear as his eyes followed her down the hall. A few seconds passed before he stirred back to life again. "Yeah- I- I guess I'll see you tonight," he nodded and disappeared toward his locker, forgetting to continue his precious sentence.

As soon as she was sure he wouldn't turn around she practically fell onto the wall, digging desperately in her bag until she found her inhaler and taking two big puffs. She groaned, hitting her head back on the wall before continuing on her journey for food.

* * *

"Well that took you ages," Sally's rich voice remarked when she saw her friend slumping down in the chair opposite to her. "I was afraid we had a Titanic on our hands, I almost sent a lifeboat."

She was really witty – cocky even – when it was just the two of them and she didn't have to worry about being judged by other people. Since about sixth grade she had started putting on a little weight and the more she gained the less confident she became, which was sad since no one – besides Cindy at least – got to see how awesome and funny she actually was.

"Yeah all but," Cindy muttered as she unwrapped her to-go bowl of salad. "I was nearly knocked to my bum by Peter." Sally giggled and she glared at her. "It's not funny."

"At least Pretty Parker would have been there to catch you," she noted before taking another bite of tuna sandwich.

"Ugh, don't say that." Cindy's forehead was now resting on the table, thinking back a few years to the time she had fainted on him in P.E. when doing a duo-exercise. He had laid flat on his back with his hands stretched up into the air, in which her hands rested as she was supposed to do push-ups over him, her feet on each sides of his legs. In the middle of her fifth one a wave of dizziness had washed over her and she fell onto his chest without a chance to do anything about it, accidentally hitting him in the crotch with her knee. "And don't call him that, people can hear! Not cool, Sal."

"Okay, okay. McCutie it is then."

Cindy laughed a little louder than she should have and was shushed by someone a few tables away. She placed her hands under her chin and looked up at her friend with big, pleading eyes.

"I don't want tonight to happen. It's just going to be awkward and I'm going to be awkward and my parents are going to be awkward, not to speak of A.J." She heaved a sigh.

"Hey, people love kiddoes," Sally tried but just received a glare.

"Not kiddoes who put peas in their nose and then snorts them out on the table." She groaned again, thinking of her baby brother's latest favorite habit. "And he'll probably just wanna talk about Liz all the time, like he did last time. Geez, I can't believe he's still crushing on her."

"It's so sad, seeing her take them down one by one. Poor boys." Sal placed a grape on her tongue and chewed it carefully. "I swear I saw Lisa Trevor's tongue fall out of her mouth the other day when Liz passed by. I think she's planning to take down all of us one by one."

Cindy frowned at her and Sally gave her a look.

"_Of course_ Peter's gonna see that she's nothing more than a pretty girl at the top of the high school hierarchy and _bam_! He's all yours." Cindy started digging in on her food, not convinced at all by her friend's words. She was quiet for a minute before speaking up.

"Perfect Liz who doesn't have acne, perfect Liz who's tall, perfect Liz who doesn't have to take a puff of asthma spray every time she stands up," she muttered, stabbing at a cherry tomato with her fork. "Can we please talk about something else now? Shouldn't we continue our biology assignment?"

Biology was Sally's strongest subject and she was determined to become a surgeon. It had been her dream since they had gotten out of that "_I wanna be a unicorn keeper"_-stage everyone went through and plowing through Grey's Anatomy for the past year had only made her more determined.

They managed to finish two more pages before having to pack down their stuff and head toward class again, physics this time, deciding to take the weekend off and finish the last pages on monday. Physics pretty much flew by and before the final period they made a stop by their lockers to drop off some books before parting ways and heading towards the english classroom.

They hadn't as much as stepped into the classroom before Mr. Herman pushed a hat – yes, a proper black top hat – filled with notes into their faces.

"We're switching seats. Sit down at the number you receive." The girls looked at each other and sighed, knowing that they wouldn't be sitting together any more. Cindy just hoped she didn't have to sit next to Flash, that kid was an idiot. A few weeks ago she had overheard him go on and on about how stupid the Frankenstein book was because "_the dude who wrote it totally copied The Hulk!"_. She was surprised he could even write his own name.

Cindy took a note and quickly skimmed the benches for number fourteen and found it three rows from the front. She pouted a little, frustrated to have been moved backwards and she watched as Sally fell into her own seat another few rows back. No way they could send notes to each other now.

"Kong!" a guy at the table in front of her called and greeted the boulder of a man that was Kenny McFarlane with a fist bump, before the latter one took the seat right in front of Cindy. The man was gigantic! She could barely see the board if she peeked over his shoulder. _Not_ fair.

The guys in front of her started chatting loudly about an upcoming game and she tried to block them out by skimming through her notes from the previous lesson. Not that she needed to, but it was a great way to focus on something else.

"Hey," a voice said and she looked up. Peter Parker pulled out the chair next to her and started pulling out his notebook and pencils, all while Cindy tried to swallow down her heart that had decided to leap up into her throat without permission.

"Hi," she replied and smiled sheepishly as her heart raced. She was overly curious why he had come over to her, perhaps he wanted to ask about the dinner tonight. "What can I help you with?"

The right corner of his mouth twitched into a wry smile as his brows furrowed a little in confusion, clearing his throat before replying. "This is my seat." He showed her a piece of paper with the number "_#15"_ written on it and suddenly all she wanted was to disappear through the floor.

"Yeah, of course," she mumbled a little as she peeked over her shoulder. Sally shot her a wide eyed look along with side-nod of her head that told her to go ahead and talk to him. Seated next to her was Peter's friend, Ned, but he was too busy looking at his phone to notice the two girls' staring contest.

She turned back and cleared her throat a little. "Thanks for earlier," she began, flashing him a quick smile. "For my bag."

"Oh no, it was my fault completely, don't apologize," he replied, shaking off the compliment. "Hey by the way, May wondered if she should bring something over tonight? I mean, she asked me to ask you, just in case."

She blinked at him. For a second she was completely stunned, lost in his rich, chocolatey eyes and the dimple hiding on his cheek. His glasses had slid down a few millimeters from its usual place and she almost reached out to push them back, drawing her fingers through his soft hair in the process. Almost.

"Uh-" she replied cleverly and blinked, catching herself in the distraction. "I think we're good. My parents are making lasagna for dinner."

Peter flashed her a smile. "Yeah that sounds good."

There was an awkward silence between them as the last students dropped in. Pretty much everyone else in the classroom were talking except for them. She fiddled on her chipped nail polish – making a mental note to repaint them when she got home – and swallowed a dry lump.

"I like your shirt," she blurted out. Gosh, could she be any less smooth? He grinned at her, looking down at the white t-shirt under his hoodie, which had a picture of a tea bag on it with the text "_this is a tea-shirt"_. He didn't have time to express his thanks as Mr. Herman cleared his throat.

"I don't wanna hear any complaints, we're switching again in a few months so everyone has a chance to sit in the front rows. Take the opportunity and get to know your neighbour, who you _hopefully _don't know that well." He stared at Kong and his friend as he said this, discovering that the boys already had managed to lose interest and started chatting with each other. "You'll have a large group project together in a few weeks so you might as well get to know each other a little better outside of class," Cindy's heart raced at this, "but not right now! Today we'll start working on Shakespeare's plays and poems, can anyone mention any of his plays?"

A few people grunted while others listed his most common works: _Romeo and Juliet_, _Macbeth_, _Hamlet_, _Midsummer night's dream_, _Othello_. However, Mr. Herman was not quite satisfied.

"Come on, we went through them in the beginning of the semester. No one?" A girl in the front row mentioned _Much ado about nothing_, but apart from that the classroom was silent. Mr. Herman looked directly at Cindy. "Maybe miss Moon can enlighten us further?"

Oh God.

Cindy wanted to sink to the floor and end up in a ditch somewhere. _Anywhere_ but that classroom. She hated when teachers did this, she hated Mr. Herman for it. Furrowing her brows for a second she recalled the lesson he was referring to, which was quite simple since he had been wearing a mustard yellow shirt that day that she and Sally had made fun of for weeks.

"A few lesser known works are _Troilus and Cressida_, _Titus Andronicus_, _Henry the sixth_ and _eighth_, _Two gentlemen of verona_." Her voice was dry and her cheeks a flushed pink.

"Terrific!" He clapped his hands together and moved on to speak about poems.

"He's lucky he's got his little camera," a guy behind her whispered to his neighbour – the voice of Flash she quickly realized – and the girl next to him giggled. She looked down at her notebook and scratched behind her ear, a numb lump appearing behind her ribcage.

"Hey," a familiar voice mumbled and when she looked up Peter had turned around to face Flash. "Cut it out, okay?"

Flash's smile faded and his eyes grew darker.

"Protecting your girlfriend, four-eyes?"

Now Cindy's cheeks were close to a burning red as she buried them in her hands and focused all she could on Mr. Herman over Kong's shoulder.

"Just, leave her alone," she heard Peter mutter before returning his focus to the class.

The rest of the hour Cindy tried the best she could to focus on poems and syllables but she couldn't quite shake off the unpleasant feeling. Most of the time she didn't even bother to peek up over Kong's shoulder but just stared at his back until the bell rang.

"Now don't forget the poems, their due next lesson and I want to see real creativity!" Mr. Harrington called over the sound of chairs pulling out. She quickly gathered her stuff, avoiding to look at both Peter and Flash, before heading towards the door where Sally was waiting. They began walking towards their lockers as the corridor started to fill up with tired teens that were calling and cheering on each other in the spirit of the weekend.

"You must be overjoyed," Sally stated more than asked as she poked Cindy in the ribs with her elbow. "You and McCutie – he's gonna forget about Liz in no time. Did you hear how he stood up against Flash for you?"

She rolled her eyes at her as she kicked something invisible off the ground. "He does that for anyone who needs it, I don't think he can help it," she muttered. "I bet he thinks he has to do that every time Flash opens his mouth in my direction and Sal, I don't think he _likes_ that. It probably just makes him feel like a babysitter."

She turned to her friend and shrugged, scratching the sole of her shoe on the ground. Sally scoffed.

"Well, my friend, then I'm afraid you have to stand up for yourself. No boy wants to date the kid they're watching." She gave Cindy a pointed look as she opened her locker, straightforward as always. "But at least now you have a chance to really get to know him and show him who you are, you know. Like that your favorite food is nutella! Who doesn't like nutella? Mr. Herman said that we'll have a major group project so that ought to give you plenty of time to win him over."

"Yeah," Cindy laughed, shaking her head. "Hey, how was Ned?"

Sally stopped for a minute in the middle of putting on her coat and furrowed her brows as she thought for a minute. "Yeah he's cool. Talks a bit too much but seems sharp. We talked a bit about movies and stuff." The girls packed down the last stuff for the weekend, leaving their biology books behind as promised, before heading towards the exit doors. They chatted a little about the decathlon team – still surprised over how many freshmen that had gotten into the team – and parted with a quick hug as Cindy promised that she would call later that evening to update her on how the dinner went, before hurrying off towards her cello lesson.

* * *

**_Author's note:_**

_First chapter done! _

_I really love Cindy and Sally's friendship, it warms my heart. Sal's gonna be a pretty big part of the story since she's a big part of Cindy's life and I hope you're as excited as I am to see their friendship grow even further. And there's gonna be a lot more Cindy and Pete in the upcoming chapters, for those who are here for that! Just letting you know that __**this **__is Cindy's story, which means that everything isn't always gonna be about Peter and his powers and what he's doing, but I think this gal really deserves it and I'm planing a pretty cool story for her, so hope you're up for that!_

_Feel free to write a little something about how you like it so far, I live off of comments.  
Until next time!_


	3. Chapter 2

**Before moving ahead with the next chapter I just wanna start by saying THANKS to those of you who have already followed, favorited, and written reviews – you warm my heart! I'm really excited to get this thing going and let you in on my little story with Cindy, hopefully it will be a hell of a ride.**

**Celgress: **_yes_ she will! In just a few chapters and I am very eager to get there, although I don't want to rush it too much and mess with the tempo. These first three chapters or so are a bit slower and then we'll pick up the pace as we go :)

**Also many thanks to ****_dragothephantom_****, ****_Spiderfan92_****, and ****_Leonard Church814_**** for your very nice reviews!**

* * *

"I'm home!" Cindy called as she closed the front door behind her. The cello lesson had been a bit so-so if she was being honest – she had felt distracted and lightheaded and the notes just wouldn't stick to her head, which had her instructor rubbing his temples in silent frustration.

"_Perhaps we should finish a little earlier today,"_ he'd said, "_but you have to practice a lot. If you're this unfocused next time I will have to speak to your parents." _She'd nodded along, packing down her sheet notes as the instructor put away the grand instruments.

She dropped her bag down by the staircase and hung up her red coat that was speckled with small snowflakes before moving into the kitchen that – to her surprise – didn't smell like lasagna at all. Instead the strong scent of basil tickled her nose and Aretha Franklin was singing in the background. Her parents stood by the counter, her mother kneading a pale pizza dough and her father stirring a pot of simmering tomato sauce.

"Hi sweet-pea," her dad greeted and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "How was your day?"

"Fine," Cindy replied with a questioning frown as she looked between her parents. "What happened to lasagna?"

"I got a call from A.J.'s school during lunch, he's running an awful fever. I just got off the phone with May and we decided to push the dinner a few weeks," her mother smiled at her, her cheeks speckled with white flour. She knew her parents had finished their works early today so they would have time to cook and prep for the evening so she wasn't surprised both of them was home at this hour.

"Oh," she sighed, the disappointment spreading through body as a cold lump appeared in her stomach. "Okay then. You guys need any help?"

Her mother snorted loudly.

"No, I don't need _two_ to keep track of," she laughed whilst shaking her head, glancing at her husband. Looking up she sent Cindy a soft but firm look with eyes the same dark brown color as her daughter's. "Now go get your homeworks done so you have them out of the way, we'll let you know dinner's ready."

"Okay," she smiled, stealing an apple from a bowl on the table, before hurrying up the stairs, picking up her backpack in the process. Passing her brother's room she heard a few coughs and peeked through the door. He sat on the floor in his Iron Man pj's, playing with a few cars and action toys by a tower made out of lego.

"Hey big guy," she began with a soft voice and sent him a wry smile. "How you feelin'?" He looked up at his older sister with glossy eyes and a really flushed face.

"Not so okay," he croaked and pouted. "My throat hurts." Gosh, even though he was a pain in her ass most of the time she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

"How about I sneak up some ice cream later, huh?" He smiled a little and nodded eagerly, continuing with his play as she continued down the hall to her own room. Closing the door behind her she flopped down on the bed, staring at the ceiling as if the two were in a contest. She couldn't help but recalling what she had said to Sally earlier, "_I don't want tonight to happen"_. Knock on wood, eh?

God, she had been looking forward to this for weeks.

Groaning, she rose and moved over to her desk – she might as well start with the poem assignment Mr. Herman had given them. Waiting for the computer to start up she sent Sally a text saying that the dinner had been canceled and her friend answered almost instantly, wondering if she wanted to talk.

"_I'll call you later,"_ Cindy replied before opening up a white document.

"Okay, sonnet time," she muttered to herself as she took out her notes for the assignment from her bag. She wanted to have it finished by today so she could have her sole focus on biology during the monday, and since it was due tuesday she didn't have much choice but to finish it today. "Let's see, the tempo should be '_abab, cdcd, efef, gg,'_, fourteen lines in total and ten syllables in every line. This shouldn't be impossible."

She turned on some soft music and got to work and by the end of the hour she was quite satisfied with herself. She had a decent structure and could finish the rest of it during the weekend along with spanish.

"Dinner!" her father yelled from downstairs and his deep voice echoed through the house. Through the wall she heard how A.J.'s lego tower shattered to the ground as he scrambled to his feet and ran down the hallway to the smell of hot pizza. Saving the document she hurried downstairs herself, her stomach growling a little as she sat down at the table.

"We have pepperoni, vegetarian, and mushroom," her father said as he started cutting slices, a kitchen towel flung casually over his shoulder. "A.J., champ, what would you like?"

"Pepperoni!" the kid grinned, showing off his lost front tooth. His spirit seemed to have lifted since earlier.

"Okay, pepperoni for Iron Man it is! Nari, honey, could you get the dressing?" he called into the kitchen and her mother shouted back that it was already on the table. "Cindy?"

"Veggie and mushroom, please."

They all gathered at the table, pushing food, bowls of salad, and a jug of water between them and took turns in talking about their days. A.J. told them with passion about how he had gotten to stay inside the classroom during recess as he waited for their mom to pick him up, and their dad said that he had gotten a very nice breakfast at the law firm's morning meeting.

"How about you honey?" he said with a mouthful of pizza and looked at his wife. She shook her head at his manners but couldn't quite hide the smile on her lips.

"I managed to finish my reportage early, but Mr. Jameson has me all over this new project now so I have to work a few hours tonight," she sighed and shook her head with annoyance. Cindy noticed her fathers fists clench a little, something her mother also seemed to have caught. "He's very stressed this month, _The Daily Bugle_ is on the rise and there's a lot of paperwork that needs to be finished before the 26th."

"Still, you would imagine he would come to his senses and stop making you work extra hours over the weekends," her father muttered, cutting out another slice of pizza. Her mother ignored the comment and instead focused her eyes on Cindy.

"I heard that a girl from your school is going to start working extra hours at us. Betty Brant, do you remember her? You took dance classes together." Cindy chewed a little before nodding. Betty was a junior and best friends with Liz Allan. She worked at the school's own news channel where Cindy used to help out a few times every week and was really bossy despite her length and high-pitched voice. "Maybe you should consider taking a job outside of school, it would look very good on your resume in the future. If you'd like I can check with the office to see if we have anything open?"

"I'll think about it," she replied politely and shot her mother a smile. However, she knew that taking an extra job right now would affect her grades and she really didn't want to fall behind. She could start considering it next year, only having two years of high school left, and perhaps quit field hockey to give her more time on her hands – it wasn't taking her anywhere anyhow.

* * *

The weekend passed without much fuss. She had gone over to Sally's apartment on the saturday and had spent the evening in her bed eating popcorn and watching a few episodes of _Grey's Anatomy_, and by sunday afternoon she had finished her english poem as well as memorized a couple of words for spanish class that they had been assigned, which meant she was more than prepared for the pop-quiz first thing monday morning.

"Sin trampas, no cheating! Eyes on your own papers," Mr. Gomez called as he handed out the papers. There were about twenty-five words that they had to translate as well as a few sentences that they had to change into the correct tense. "When you're done you can open your books and do exercises thirty-four to thirty-eight and then we'll go through the test before we finish."

Cindy was one of the first ones to finish and after handing in her sheet she quietly started to skim through the text in her book. She smiled at Peter when he handed in his own paper, a few minutes after her, but apart from that the lesson didn't get much more exciting. The bell rang and everyone hurried out the door, groaning at the new homework they had gotten.

Sally was in french so Cindy was on her own as she headed for her locker to get her chemistry book, trying to move through the sea of students without being accidentally shuffled into a locker.

"Hey Cindy, wait up!" a familiar voice called and her breath got stuck in her throat as she stopped in her tracks.

"Hi Peter," she greeted with a smile that was probably a little too big. Her stomach tickled a little, he usually never ran up to her like that, hell, they barely ever spoke except for exchanging greetings in the hallways and chatting lightly during dinner parties. He smiled back at her and corrected his glasses, fiddling a little with his hands as he started talking.

"Hi, so I was talking to Mr. Herman on friday and asked about the assignment and he said that its a comparative analysis of Shakespeare's plays," they continued walking down the corridor at a slow pace, Peter burying his hands in the front pockets of his pants while Cindy held on tight to the straps of her backpack, "so I thought that we could read up on a few. I mean, we won't get it until a few weeks so there's no rush, but just so we're a bit caught up when we have to start writing it."

He raised his brows in a questioning look as he regarded her, awaiting her answer.

"Yeah, that sounds good," she shrugged, looking back at him with pink cheeks. He was a top student so she wasn't surprised at all that he wanted to get to work as soon as possible. "Do we read up on them together, or…?"

"I thought we'd do it separately, so it doesn't take so much time from other assignments," he replied a little quieter, as if he was afraid to offend her. She waved it off with her hand.

"Yeah no that makes sense. I'll make sure to write it down in my calendar." The corner of his mouth twitched into half a smile.

"I didn't think you needed to write things down," he looked at her with curious eyes and she laughed a little.

"Well I'm not a camera, despite what Flash thinks. I can't keep track of everything."

Speak of the devil, they heard Flash cry out in the distance.

"Look where you're _going_! This is cashmere!" They looked up to find Flash screaming at another freshman, Kong standing by his shoulder as per usual. She knew that kid from her chemistry – Brent his name was. He was a couple of years younger but had skipped a few grades and was currently shaking as he went out of his way to apologize to Flash – who was at the very least a head taller – for almost spilling his cup of hot beverage on him.

"What are you drinking, _dumb-juice_, huh?" He received a chuckle from his friends and Kong held the boy up against a locker with his right hand, keeping him in place with ease.

"Hey!" Cindy jumped at the sudden shout and saw Peter jog up to them on the other side of the corridor, placing a hand on Kong's shoulder but looking at Flash with a meaningful expression on his face. "Come on, he's apologized."

In a surprisingly swift motion, Kong let go of Brent and instead shoved Peter into the lockers headfirst. She saw how he winced and moved his hand up to the back of his head. A bunch of kids had started to gather around them and whispered eagerly to one another. Fights were strictly forbidden at Midtown High but Flash usually managed to get away with it, preferring verbal abuse instead of physical.

She saw how Brent scrambled to his feet and ran off to his next class without looking back or saying as much as a "_thank you"_ to the boy who had taken his place. By now there were too many people in front of her to let her see what happened to Peter.

"Hey look at that, _Penis _Parker!" he heard Flash call and it was followed by many laughs and giggles from the small audience. The laughs quickly stopped once a few people spotted a teacher down the hallway and the crowd parted as quickly as it had gathered, Flash and Kong leaving too whilst snickering and giving each other a fist bump.

She walked up to Peter where he was standing with his back against a wall of lockers and a hand cupped around his left cheek. Honestly he looked more pissed than sad.

"What did they do?" she asked softly and he removed his hand to reveal that they had drawn a large penis on his cheek with a sharpie. She frowned and glanced down at her shoes, a bit unsure of what to say. It felt dumb to tell him that he should stop helping people – hey, it was one of the things she found most attractive about him – but at the same time it wasn't okay that they treated him this way. "Maybe we should talk to a teacher, tell them what happened. I can go with y-"

"I have to go to the bathroom," he interrupted and pulled his bag off the ground, heading down the hall in the other direction. She knew he wasn't mad at her but she still felt a bit bad. But honestly, what could she do to Flash that would make him stop? Baffle him by rambling the periodic system?

She continued down the hall alone, having to hurry if she would manage to get to next class in time. Sally was waiting for her by her locker and the two headed to a really boring lesson of chemistry together where the teacher went on and on about ions and different kinds of bonds between them. Her friend was quickly caught up with what had happened in the hallway through a few notes and Cindy glanced at Brent a few times but he seemed to avoid her gaze. Coward.

Two hours later it was time for lunch and Sally told her that she'd have to run to the bathroom and that Cindy should go ahead and grab them a table. She was a bit surprised to hear Sal mention Ned's name on two occasions, talking about their bonding in class last friday and that they had texted a little the last night. Only about english class, but still. She wasn't even sure Sal would have know his name if it wasn't for her crush on his best friend.

The cafeteria was loud and messy, full of tired teenagers that complained about that the weekend had been too short or that they had forgotten to do a homework, begging their friends to let them copy theirs. It took a while, but eventually she managed to get two tacos and a small bowl of salad and headed for table-hunting. Most tables were taken, but after a few minutes she saw the backs of Peter and Ned by a table that had a few free seats. After a quick reasoning with herself – the reasonable part of her brain vs. the nervous, lovestruck part – she headed in their direction.

They didn't see her since they faced the other way and she was just a few meters away when she opened her mouth to greet them, but stopped in her tracks as she heard them mention her name in their conversation.

"Yeah, Sally's cool. What do you think about her friend?" Ned asked before shoving a few nachos into his mouth.

"Cindy? No, no! I mean, she's nice, but I don't have a thing for her," Peter replied quickly, waving the idea off like it was a strange topic to discuss. "Her mom knows May but we never hang out."

"But she's kinda cute? And Sally says she's funny," Ned tried but Peter seemed completely uninterested in the conversation. She saw his head bob up to give his friend a raised brow before moving his head again, and she followed his gaze to the pretty junior a few tables away.

"Yeah, well, she's no Liz Allan." Peter voice was harder and dug in on his nachos as well. By this point, Cindy had turned on her heels and hurried to the other end of the cafeteria, the corners of her eyes stinging a little.

It didn't matter where she and Sally sat as long as it was as far away as possible from the two boys.

* * *

"Now remember to _focus_, the ball goes where your eyes go," coach Wilson instructed but Cindy's mind was elsewhere. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about what Peter had said earlier in the cafeteria, and right now her eyes were burning holes in the back of his neck where they sat on the stands in the gym.

Sally had figured out something was wrong but hadn't pushed it, knowing Cindy would tell her when she was ready.

"Let's move it, everyone who got number one and two can take the left net, threes and fours the right one. Come on!" the coach continued, clapping his hands to get them moving.

Grabbing her inhaler she placed it in the pocket of her pants before moving toward the right volleyball net. She was on the same team as Peter, which she normally would have been thrilled about, but when he smiled at her she just looked the other way like she hadn't seen him, her arms crossed in front of her. She couldn't be mad at him for not having the same feelings for her as she had for him, that was just absurd, and she already knew he had a huge crush for Liz.

It was just the way he had said it, it had made her feel like garbage.

She took a place in the corner back of the square they stood in and prayed for the ball to go to someone else than her. The other team got started and passed the ball over, which the girl to Cindy's right saved and smashed back. They went on for a while, sending the ball back and forth to one another and both of the teams seemed quite set on playing it fair. Cindy received the ball two times, managing to hit it the first time but missing the other so it went bouncing off in the direction of the locker rooms.

After a short break to rehydrate they got going again and the coach yelled at them to pick up the pace. A few minutes in the ball fell outside the court again and the game paused for a moment as a guy from the other team hurried away to retrieve it.

"You got tickets for the IMAX? That's awesome!" Peter exclaimed in awe to Ned who stood beside him at the front row of the court, talking about some new movie that was premiering next weekend. Cindy stared at him under furrowed brows, examining his gleeful features as he chatted away, completely unaware of her stare. He seemed completely lost in the moment talking to his friend.

She couldn't help but noticing how is shirt was too big for him, or rather, that he was too skinny for his shirt. He seemed completely lost in the moment talking to his friend

"Cindy!"

She jumped as someone yelled her name just in time to see something white come flying her way and in some miraculous way she managed to get her fists up in time to shelter her face. The ball hit her wrists hard and went flying back in the direction it had come from, flying straight into the back of Peter Parker's head.

"Ouch!" he cried as he fell to the ground and Cindy clasped her hands over her mouth. What the hell had she just done?

A sharp whistle echoed through the grand room.

"Moon, principal's office _now_ please!" the coach yelled. Looking up she noticed everyone was staring at her, Peter included with a hurt look on his face.

Without apologizing or asking how he was she just turned on her heel and took the note coach Wilson handed to her, marching to the principal's quarters still in her P.E. garments. It wasn't that far, a five minutes walk maybe, and a nice lady in the reception told her to wait in a chair by an aquarium.

She sat there for about fifteen minutes, the image of Peter looking at her playing over and over again in her head. She felt bad and ashamed over what had happened – it really had been an accident – but a small part of her was satisfied over having hurt him like he hurt her. Sure, he didn't know that she'd heard him earlier and had been given no opportunity to make up for it, but still.

The longer she sat there the more guilty she felt. He could have been hurt, really hurt, or at least gotten a concussion and there she sat feeling proud of herself? No, she really had to apologize next time she saw him. Her parents would die of shame it they got a call from May saying that their daughter had taken out her nephew and just walked off.

"Miss Moon?" Cindy stood, rather nauseous, looking at principal Morita standing in the doorway to his office before following him in. He closed the door behind her and sat down in his chair, reading the note the coach had sent with her. "You threw a ball at another student?" He eyed her like he didn't fully believe it.

"It was an accident, I didn't mean it I promise! I'm really sorry, Mr. Morita, I really am," she swarmed on and he interrupted her with a wave of his hand, straightening himself before talking.

"Look, miss Moon, you have perfect records and your teachers have only positive things to say when it comes to you. Your ambitious, you're in both the academic decathlon team and volunteer at the TV studio, not to mention that your grades are well above average. I couldn't dream of you trying to hurt another student on purpose." He smiled at her and leaned backwards in his chair, clasping his hands in his knee.

"So I'm not getting detention?" Cindy blinked, the relief making her body feel light and tingly. He just chuckled.

"No, you're off the hook. However, I don't wanna see you here again, understood?" he gave her a pointed look and she nodded frantically.

"No, of course." He asked her another few questions and made her promise to apologize to "_Mr. Parker"_ before dismissing her with a smile and she hurried out of the room. Geez, she couldn't believe how nervous she had been, this was the first time she had been called to the principal's office _ever_.

The receptionist smiled politely at her as she made her way back to the gym. Glancing at a clock on the wall she realized she had been gone for about half an hour and that when she got back there would only be ten minutes left of the lesson. Deciding that there was no point in returning and having everyone stare at her she instead headed into the locker room, taking her time to change as she still had to wait for Sally. She even had time to brush through her hair and wrap it up into a new ponytail before the rest of her female classmates began to fall in through the door.

"Hey," her dark haired friend greeted and leaned against her locker, crossing her arms in front of her and looking at her with sharp eyes. "What happened?" Cindy scratched behind her left ear before looking up.

"I didn't mean for it to happen," she sighed and shrugged, "it was an accident. I got lost in my head and then the ball came at me and I just…" her shoulders were drawn up to her ears and her hands in the air in a dramatic shrug.

"Shrieked like a girl and nearly peed yourself? Yeah that was quite hard not to notice," she replied dryly alongside a quirked brow. "But I'm talking about why you stared daggers at Peter for the better part of the lesson and then left without saying sorry. Don't know if that's your new way of flirting but I gotta say, I don't think it's a great strategy."

She pulled the locker open and started to change back to her regular clothes whilst Cindy just stared at her hands. She knew she had to tell her at some point, and sooner was probably better than later.

"Is he okay?" she mumbled after a minute and Sally snorted.

"He's fine," she replied, not bothering to hide the irritation in her voice. She would stay like this forever if Cindy didn't start open up.

"It's nothing big, really Sal. I just don't wanna talk about it right now," she replied and looked directly into her friends eyes. They stared at each other for a moment before Sally caved and rolled eyes, closing the metal door and sitting down next to her. She stared at her with intense hazel eyes, considering her words and trying to work out what was going on in her friend's mind. Cindy could practically hear the cogs working inside her head.

"Are you okay?" she asked and raised her brows. She could tell by the tension in her voice that she was serious about this and wouldn't let it go if she thought she was lying. Luckily, she didn't have to.

"I'm fine," she nodded with a smile, really glad that she had her by her side. The lump in her gut would fade, she knew, in time and she would move on. Sally smiled back and bumped her shoulder with her fist playfully as she rose.

"Good then. Now come on, we have to go finish bio."

* * *

_**Author's note:**_

**_For those of you that worry that this is the end for Peter and Cindy – don't. I really just don't wanna rush things and make it too unrealistic when it comes to love, but prefer to let the characters develop and get to know each other over time. Also, a quick heads up about the timeline: __after some very dedicated research I've figured that this takes place a few weeks into the spring semester, around mid-february. In CW Peter explains to Tony that he's had his powers for about six months, and the academic decathlon championship takes place mid-october, roughly two months later._**

**_Also, I've created a poll on my profile to see whether you guys want me to write longer or shorter chapters, check it out and don't forget to let me know what you think of this chapter :)_**

**_Until next time!_**


	4. Chapter 3

_**Once again I wanna take time to thank everyone who's followed and favorited so far – you guy's are awesome! Another (final) little head's up about the timeline to make everything perfectly clear before you continue: this is the spring semester of Cindy/Peter/Sally's freshman year, meaning that Liz and Betty are juniors.**_

_**treyalexander63917: **__Well I don't wanna give everything away quite yet, but I feel very strongly about letting them have their own adventures and not doing exactly everything together, although their stories will intertwine __**a lot**__. Without spoiling this too much I can let you know that there will be a bit of both, so fear not, Cindy/Peter-shippers!_

_**dragonthephantom: **__I really like movie!Liz so I wanna use her in the story, and since she's a major part of the Homecoming movie she will also play a part here. How big, however, I haven't decided yet ;)_

* * *

Cindy had dreaded english class the whole day.

She had shoved the thoughts away and locked them inside a little box in her head, keeping her focus on the other classes but but right now – as the bell rang to call the end of maths – she had nothing left to occupy her mind with but the thought of sitting next to Peter Parker for the coming hour and swallow her pride.

As she and Sally headed down the full hallway with books in their arms she tried to narrow down exactly what to say. She was still a bit pissed at him for determining her value after his feelings for the junior, but she did have to apologize. However, that would be the only thing she'd say.

"–so I'm thinking I'll might write about quantum mechanics, I think that would be kinda cool, but I'm also thinking that quarks could be interesting. What do you think? Cindy?"

Something hard hit her in the ribs and she gasped as she jumped a little, frowning at her friend and the elbow pointing in her direction.

"Hey, are you even listening?" Sally quirked a brow at her.

"Yeah, no, sorry," she excused herself and scratched the back of her neck, looking down at her books. "I was just thinking of-"

"-Pretty Parker." She could tell Sally was rolling her eyes at her without even looking in her direction.

"Will you stop calling him that," she muttered as they entered the classroom. Most of the students had already assembled and either chatted wildly with their friends in wait for Mr. Herman to start the lesson, or going through their notes from the last lesson. Peter Parker was included in the latter category.

Sally left her side to slide down next to Ned and the two of them quickly got wrapped up in a conversation about the field trip later that week.

She took a deep breath and headed for her own seat, placing her bag on the table and glancing at Peter as she began pulling out her own notebook. This was it, just get it over with. Like ripping off a bandage.

"I just wanna say that I'm sorry for yesterday, in gym class. It was an accident" she began and he looked up at her. "Are you okay?"

His lips were slightly parted as his eyes brushed over her face, his forehead slightly furrowed as if trying to work something out. She had seen that face before, at academic decathlon practice when he got a hard question he was trying to work his mind around. After a few seconds his shoulders relaxed a bit and he gave her a crooked smile as he nodded.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good. It's okay, I know it wasn't intended," he brushed off and Cindy exhaled, glad the deed was finally done. She opened her notebook to a new page and started scribbling the date and some few notes to herself, but Peter leaned in towards her. "Are you going on the field trip on thursday?"

She cursed a little at herself. If she wasn't "_no Liz Allan"_ then why did he insist on keeping the conversation going?

"Yeah, it's mandatory," she replied, not lifting her gaze from the paper. In the corner of her eye she noticed him rubbing his neck as he leaned back in his chair, perhaps a bit taken back that she wasn't flashing him bright smiles as usual.

"Yeah, of course. I just figured since your dad's working there perhaps you-"

"-had memorized the whole thing?" she finished, looking up to see that Mr. Herman was gathering his notes and papers for today's lesson and that he would start any second now. "Unfortunately not."

It sounded a bit harsh, but she was running out of patience.

Her father had been working as a lawyer for Oscorp through a larger law-firm for the past seven years, meaning that she had been there on multiple occasions checking out all their newest exhibitions. She hadn't been there in a few years, though, school taking up too much of her time along with the fact that A.J. would always run off to somewhere he shouldn't be. The last time they had all been there together, three years ago, he had run off to the radiation lab and nearly gotten himself killed.

"Okay class, I've spent my weekend thinking about your rhymes so let's see how you've done," their teacher stated as he went down the rows collecting everyone's homework. Cindy pulled her own one out from a binder in her backpack but froze as he continued. "I'm thinking we could put these up somewhere where we all can enjoy them and be inspired by each other's works."

She groaned, unwillingly handing over her work as she remembered what she'd actually written about, and that it would be up for everyone to see. Perhaps she could persuade him to make it anonymous, although if she knew Mr. Herman right he would only argue that it was "_important to get to know each other's creativity"_ or something.

"Looking forwards to see what you've come up with," Mr. Herman smiled as he took hers away and she nodded stiffly in reply. "Today we will analyze some of Shakespeare's sonnets and discuss how they differ from contemporary poems. A little fun fact about Shakespeare," he continued and a unanimous grunt went through the classroom like a wave, "his wife was actually called Anne Hathaway, just like the famous actor!"

Geez, this was the beginning of a _very_ long lesson.

* * *

"What are the two lightest halogens of the periodic system?" Olivia Jones called, barely finishing the sentence before a light bell rang.

"Fluorine and chlorine!"

"Well done, Peter!" the senior praised and moved on to the next question. The academic decathlon practice had just started and the team captain was currently drilling the freshmen and sophomores with mixed questions, preparing them for regionals in a few weeks.

Peter and Cindy had both been paired up with a sophomore each and were competing against each other in teams, two against two. She had known that answer too but wasn't nearly as fast as him to hit the bell.

The team consisted of fifteen students in total: three participants and one stand-by from every grade except the freshmen that were three in total. Peter and Cindy were the main participants from their grade, with Michelle – the younger sister of the team captain – as their backup.

"What is the capital city of Croatia?"

"Zagreb!" both Cindy and her partner – a sophomore named Abraham – yelled at the same time as he hit the silver bell in front of them. He was seriously good at geography, she had never heard him give a wrong answer when it came to countries and cultures.

Cindy was also quite good at remembering cities, or well, she was quite good at remembering _most_ things. Her photographic memory was the main reason she had made the team, it made her very good with names and dates, alongside the fact that she always had read a lot outside of school.

"Terrific!" Olivia chimed, giving him a nod of approval. "Okay so you guys can take a break now and we'll move on to Matthew, Leah, Josephine, and Liz!" The students switched places, Liz taking Peter's seat and complimenting him on his answers, telling him that he was a real asset to the team. The boy in question looked so happy she for a moment thought he would actually melt into a puddle in front of them all.

Cindy took a sip from her bottle of water and sat down on a chair next to Michelle, who had busied herself reading a book. Hearing her teammate flomp down beside her she looked up, the corner of her lips pulling into a greeting half smile.

"Nice job on the latin names," she grunted, using her fingers as a temporary bookmark. Cindy smiled at her as a "_thanks"_, taking another sip of water. The two of them had never talked to each other until they both had joined the team and even now it was mostly friendly small talk. Michelle was quiet most of the time, unlike her sister, but very clever and quick-witted. "What's up with you and Parker?"

Cindy was taken aback by the question and choked on her drink, coughed so loud a few of the seniors glanced her way. She looked at Michelle with slightly wide eyes. "What? Nothing!"

The girl stared at her through slightly narrowed eyes, like she was reading her like the book in her hand. She shook her head and returned to the fiction she had been reading.

"You usually stare at him a lot," she replied with an unimpressed voice, like she didn't really care at all.

"Norepinephrine!" Liz shouted from the stage as she hit the bell, grinning widely. Both the girls looked up and – to Cindy's relief – let the conversation slide.

"Great job, Liz!" Olivia seemed impressed, nodding at the junior with an approving smile. "Keep this up and you'll be team captain next year." Liz's smile beamed even brighter and she drew away a lock of hair that had fallen into her face.

The team continued to practise and taking turns in answering the questions. Even Olivia jumped in and let the vice team captain, Jackson, step in in her place.

Not only did she answer all of the questions correctly, she answered _all_ of the questions, receiving a small round of applause from her teammates along with a joking comment from Mr. Harrington that "_perhaps we should just send Olivia to the regionals and take the day off ourselves"_.

"Great job everyone," Mr. Harrington praised as the practice came to an end, collecting the silver bells from the tables. "See you all on thursday. Except you freshmen, you are excused due to the field trip."

Everyone greeted goodbye as they headed home, chatting with their friends as they went. Cindy walked next to Michelle – who had her nose in a book even when walking – in silence, falling in behind Olivia and her friends who were in a hot discussion about what movie they should see this weekend.

They hadn't picked up on their earlier conversation, and Cindy wasn't intending to bring it up either.

"See ya," Michelle mumbled with a wave of her hand, her gaze not lifting from the pages, as she headed after her older sister toward the parking lot.

"Bye," Cindy replied quietly and continued down a different corridor. It was around 4 p.m. and she wanted to get on the subway before it got full with people getting off work.

Passing the library she recognized a familiar laugh. Peeking in she found Sally and Ned seated by a table with numerous papers and books spread out in front of them, although they at the moment seemed to be busy gossiping.

"Really? I heard he broke up with her because she went out with his brother!" Ned replied to something Sally had said, seeming quite stunned.

"Hi," Cindy greeted, sending her friend a confused smile. "What are you guys doing here, didn't class end almost two hours ago?"

"Hey Cin! Yeah we decided to stay and finish some homework, but I think we're done now," Sally explained and looked at Ned with a raised brow to get confirmation.

"Yeah," Ned nodded and smiled at Cindy. "We thought we'd go grab pizza now, you wanna join?"

She glanced at her watch. Most of her homeworks were finished and dinner wasn't until a few hours so she figured she had some time.

"Yeah, I'll come." She smiled at them as they started packing down their belongings, still chatting about some schoolwork. A buzzing noise interrupted them and Ned fished his phone up from his pocket.

"Sweet, Peter's coming too! He's at the subway now but he says he'll wait there for us." Cindy felt a stone drop in her stomach. This not-liking-Peter-anymore thing was new to her and she'd already had enough of Peter Parker for one day. She didn't even know what to feel anymore.

"Great!" Sally chimed and opened her mouth to say something else, only to stop herself mid-breath. Her eyes lingered on Cindy, who knew exactly what her friend was about say – something along the lines of "_Did you hear, Cin, it's a date with Pretty Parker!"_.

They collected their coats from their lockers, Ned completing his look with a Star Wars beanie, and started to walk over the football field that was covered with a thin layer of snow.

"I heard your dad works at Oscorp," Ned chimed as he pulled his coat a little closer around him.

"Yeah, that's right," Cindy confirmed and glanced at Sally with an amused smile, wondering how much "_homework"_ they had actually gotten done. "He's a lawyer for the company."

"That is so cool," the boy breathed. "I used to go there all the time when I was younger, it really got me into science. They used to have this exhibition with animal hybrids a few years ago, that was so awesome! Have you ever been in their labs?"

"No I haven't," she laughed. She had never talked to Ned before but already knew she liked him, and now finally understood why Sally had gotten along so well with him. His ability to make absolutely _anything_ a conversation along her habit of bringing people back to the ground with a single comment seemed so natural.

The two in question had gotten i wrapped up into a conversation about conspiracy theories by the time they reached the staircase to the subway, which Cindy found _very_ amusing to listen to. Ned kept throwing theories and possible evidences at them, so excited he almost exploded, while Sally shot the ideas down with logic and reasonable counterarguments.

"I'm just saying, that crater didn't come from out of nowhere" he said as they entered the platform and raised his hands to wave to Peter who leaned against a pillar a bit further down.

"Hey," Peter waved, removing his earphones and standing up straight as they approached him. He greeted each one of them with a crooked smile, his eyes lingering a little hesitantly at Cindy for a moment, who was looking down at her boots. "You're coming too?"

"Huh?" Her head popped up after a second with slightly raised brows, realizing neither Sally nor Ned was answering the question and, hence, that it was asked to her.

Peter was giving her a friendly smile, his hands buried in his pockets and his eyes twinkling in that way that set butterflies loose inside her gut. She knew for a given fact that if she would join them for pizza and look at that bright smile of his for a few hours she would definitely fall back into having feelings for him. And it was time to move on.

"Actually, I just remembered that I haven't finished the chemistry paper that's due tomorrow. So I'm going straight home."

His smile faltered a little but he nodded, turning to Ned and started to chat about an old computer he was piecing back together. She could feel Sally – who knew very well that she had finished the report a few days back – stare at her but ignored it, pretending that she was replying a text.

After a few minutes a woman in the speakers announce that her train was next up and asking the travelers to beware the incoming train.

"See you guys tomorrow," Cindy chimed as she pulled on to the straps of her backpack and smiled at her classmates, a sense of relief washing over her that she had gotten out of the awkward situation.

"Yeah, bummer that you couldn't come," Ned nodded, seeming genuinely down that she wouldn't be joining them. "But good luck with the paper!"

She smiled warmly at him, glad to have made his acquaintance.

"Yeah, let us know if you need any help," Peter spoke up and when her eyes fell on him she found that he – like earlier that day – had a rather meaningful expression, like he was trying to figure her out. His head had dipped slightly to the side and his eyes were ever so slightly narrowed, a wrinkle playing over his brow as his had slightly parted.

She just nodded in reply, ger gaze entangled with his.

"Cin." Sally's voice brought her back to reality and her friend nodded toward the waiting train. There was an unreadable expression on her face but frankly, she did not seem happy.

Cindy rushed into the door opening and made it just in time before the doors closed behind her, the backpack brushing the metal. Sitting down on an empty spot by the window she looked out to see Ned and Peter once again engaged in a discussion, but Sally's eyes were piercing hers like knives.

* * *

_**Author's note:**_

_**We're getting close now, next chapter will be the field trip and we all knows what happens then! **_

_**Sorry if these first chapters have been a bit slow. I think it's really important to start the story off by giving them a solid ground to stand on and for their friendship to evolve from, so it won't just be "i just got bitten and now Peter and I are together!". I strive for more depth than that, so hope you don't mind! However, the pace will start to pick up now and I'm crazy excited about writing the next three chapters – hope you're joining me on this journey!**_

_**Don't forget to vote on my poll and please leave your thoughts behind, have a great day :)**_

_**Until next time!**_


	5. Chapter 4

_**Thirty-four followers and twenty-five favorites on the first three chapters – whoa you guys! It's amazing how many we've become and the story has barely even started yet :D So excited to share this with you and I've got so much more planned so I hope you stick around!**_

_**Apart from this I have nothing more to say other than I JUST WATCHED THE NEW SPIDEY TRAILER AND OHMYGOD ALL THE FEELINGS.**_

_**SnuffleTruff: **__Thank you so much for your kind review, it brought a big smile to my lips :) I'm glad you like the characters and the story so far! Honestly, since I've only posted (now) four chapters and this is the first story I've published, I'm surprised of how many that has already joined the ship and although my goal with the story isn't to get tons of followers, I do think that more people will tag along when we actually get further into the story and get more of Cindy + Peter :D_

_**dragonthephantom:**__ I'm assuming you're asking about Civil War, and honestly I haven't quite decided yet how I'm gonna do. I want the story to develop naturally and not to feel forced so I'll just see where it takes us :)_

**_Also, many thanks to Celgress and MedicusAestus for your reviews and of course to all of you readers – you guys are golden._**

* * *

"Okay students, gather around. Two and two," Mrs. Warren called, her demanding voice causing the chatty students to hush and pair up with their friends.

Cindy had – of course – paired up with Sally but unlike chatting away like they usually would, the girls stood in silence, crossing their arms in front of them. During the whole of yesterday they hadn't spoken to each other, even if they still had been all but joined at the hip, and neither one of them wanted to be the first to break the silence.

She knew Sally was pissed at her for ditching them tuesday afternoon and she knew she had to tell her friend what she had overheard Peter say during monday lunch, but it had only been a few days ago and she still didn't quite know how she felt about it all. However, that wasn't her major concern anymore.

Her major concern was Sally and Ned's newfound friendship and she knew that if she forced her friend to pick sides she would turn her back at Ned without a doubt, knowing that he would side with his own best friend, and Cindy couldn't do that to her. She had been so happy for the past few days and she had noticed the girl had started to step outside of her comfort zones on a few occasions.

"Eugene and Kenny, you can go ahead," Mrs. Warren said, crossed their names off the list as Flash and Kong practically jumped into the empty bus, teasing each other for their names as they went for the seat in the back. After a few minutes it was Cindy and Sally's turn and they flomped down in two free seats the middle of the bus.

They sat quiet as the vehicle started to fill up with clamorous students shuffling past each other. Cindy fiddled nervously on the sleeve of her coat as her friend faced the other way, refusing to even look at her. Wow, she hadn't been this pissed since Cindy had accidentally killed her pet turtle in sixth grade.

"Hey," she started carefully. "Can we talk?"

Sally shifted a little towards her but kept her eyes on the ceiling.

"Look, I never meant to shove you aside. I just," she groaned a little as she tried to find the right words. "I don't have feelings for _him_ anymore and-"

"What?" Sally looked at her with a most baffled expression on her face, shock mixed with confusion. She was just about to say something else as a voice interrupted them.

"Hey!" Ned greeted, taking the seat in front of Sally but turning so that he faced them. Peter slid down beside him with an unsure look on his face as he glanced at Cindy. "Are you excited? I looked up the expo last night and apparently they have all these gene-manipulated insects and stuff. Like I found this snake that can change its colors."

"Um _that's_ awesome," Sally exclaimed, completely forgetting about what Cindy had just told her. "I heard a rumour that they had a crocodile with feathers in their labs, but apparently it freaked out and ate someone."

Both Ned and Peter's jaws dropped a little at the gossip and the two boys looked at each other.

"No way!" Peter breathed, his brows raised so high that a small frown had formed on his forehead but shook it off as he continued. "I overheard the teachers saying that we're gonna get to watch this new instrument that uses radioactive lasers to split or forge molecules together. They think that it in a few years can be used to deactivate radioactive substances."

"Really?" Cindy gaped, forgetting all about that she was supposed to be cross with him. He looked at her and smiled – something that made her whole body squirm – and continued before she had time to turn away.

"Yeah, it's really cool! Imagine working there after we graduate." His eyes revealed that he had lost himself somewhere in a daydream and when he finally stirred out of it Cindy had returned to looking at her sleeve, the awe gone from her face. He bit on the bottom of his lips, his smile fading.

Before anyone could open for another conversation, Mrs. Warren stood in the middle of the aisle of the – now full – bus clapping her hands to get everyone's attention.

"Listen up now! You know the drill," she spoke. "Sit in your own seats the whole time, you are not allowed to run around, and _no throwing things around_," she snatched a paper airplane from a student's hands. "You may not open any containers of nuts."

She glared at Flash in the back of the bus who was busy cracking a funny comment to his friends and he silenced immediately.

"On your seats," she mouthed with a pointing motion at Peter and Ned as she passed them and they turned around from the girls in the seat behind, busying themselves in a conversation about movie theories.

The bus roared to life and began its journey to Brooklyn. It wouldn't take long, twenty-five minutes tops, and the freshmen quickly raised the volume back to what it had been earlier. Praised science school or not, they were still a handful.

Cindy felt something poke her in the ribs and looked up, finding Sally handing her a small notebook. For a moment she just frowned at it, but peeking onto the page she saw a single word scribbled.

"_Why?"_

After a second's confusion the penny dropped and she realised what her friend actually was asking. _Why don't you like him anymore?_

She looked to her side to make sure no one was listening or reading over her shoulder before taking the pen from her friend's hand and scribbled back, "_Bc he's not interested in me, he wants Liz."_

Sally scoffed and rolled her eyes as she read the sentence, giving her a look that said '_for real?'_. Snatching back the book she added some writing and handed it back.

"_So? He's had a crush on her since august – what's new?"_

"_That's __**it**_ – _he's liked her for,"_ she quickly counted in her head, "_six months, it's not gonna change anytime soon."_

Her friend looked at her with fierce eyes and she could tell she was trying her hardest to not speak a word, her face becoming all flustered and she did not know what to do with her hands. She wanted to yell at her, blurt out all the reasons she was acting unreasonably, but didn't know what to do with herself.

Actually, it was quite funny to watch.

"_Well __**you**_'_ve liked __**him**_ _for __**five years**_ _so that's just a shitload of crap!"_

Cindy glared at her. Crossing her arms she looking the other way, pouting. It was her decision to make and hers alone. Although, using the word "_decision"_ made it sound so easy…

"Come on, Cin," Sally muttered but her friend ignored her, plugging in her earphones and closing her eyes, pretending she was sitting on the subway.

As the bus came to a stop she was quick to her feet, stumbling straight into Peter. He caught her and for a second they locked eyes before she shuffled forward and outside.

The class gathered on the parking lot in front of the impressive building while Mrs. Warren instructed them on what was to come and held the classic "_don't behave like animals"_-talk. Dividing the class into two smaller groups she sent the one Cindy and Sally was in with a male teacher she didn't know, along with Flash, Kong, and – _of course_ – Peter and Ned.

"Come along," called the man that had been introduced as Mr. Martin and Cindy could tell he had already lost his patience with them, shaking his head as he entered through the glass doors of the building.

If it hadn't been for her photographic memory Cindy would probably said the classic "_this place hasn't changed a bit"_, but that wasn't true. Of course the staircases and stone foundation were in their usual places, but the walls had been painted white and displays along with large touch-screens had been moved around. Instead of a chandelier in the ceiling there hung large skeletons from different kinds of whales.

A male guide greeted and welcomed them to the Oscorp Corporation Labs and Exhibition, letting them hang up their belongings in a room before leading them down a corridor filled with pictures of their earliest experiments. She kept close to Sally, not as upset at her anymore but still determined not to add anything to their earlier conversation in the bus.

She just wanted to move on with her life.

As they entered the real museum a wave of "_wow"_s and "_oh"_s went through the crowd of students, especially those who had never been there before.

The place was huge with a glass ceiling forming a dome thirty feet in the air, and spectacular life-size models of animals. Their team of the exhibition was "_evolution"_ and the first room displayed the early era of the earth with animals from millions of years ago.

Skeletons, moving robots, and holograms of everything from primitive reptiles to enormous dinosaurs caused the teens eyes to go wide with awe.

"This is the Coelophysis," the guide explained, gesturing his hands towards a slim dinosaur about the size of himself. He went on about it for a few minutes before leading them towards a new display.

As they moved onwards, cold fingers brushed against Cindy's upper arm and she jumped a little, her head snapping up to find Peter looking at her with an uncertain expression, his lips slightly parted and a wrinkle between his brows.

"Hey," he began, his rich, chocolatey eyes looking deep into her soul. "Can we talk?"

She blinked, a weird feeling squirming inside her stomach. Her lips parted a little without letting any words pass as they walked side by side at the back of the group.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked bluntly, nervously glancing at her as he corrected his glasses a little. She kept her eyes forwards and searched for Sally's figure in the crowd, knowing that she would blush if looking directly at him.

"I'm not mad at you," she replied simply. From the corner of her eye she could see how he nodded a little to himself, scratching at the back of his neck. Finding the brunette in the front of the group she hurried her steps a little. "I have to catch up with Sal," she mumbled but was stopped as the boy grabbed lightly by the forearm and forced her to a halt.

She looked up at him in surprise, a frown crowning her forehead and her lips forming to a small "_o"_ but before she could say anything Peter beat her to it.

"Is there anything I have said or done to offend you?" he asked, his dark brows pinching over his nose in a genuinely crestfallen expression. "I know we're not that good friends but, I mean, even _Liz_ greets me and we're not even in the same grade!"

Something dark and cold started to grow inside her.

"Yeah well, I'm no Liz Allan," she snapped, using his own words from the beginning of the week. He looked at her with a baffled face, shocked by her blunt reply, but after a few seconds his expression changed, a mix of embarrassment and guilt washing over his face. Just as he was about to open his mouth she continued, looking after the group of students half the room away. "I have to find Sal."

Falling to a slow jog she hurried after the group and found her friend in the front and shuffled in beside her, a salty lump hiding in her throat.

* * *

"And here we can find our most recent addition to the exhibition," the guide declared with a hint of pride in his voice as he led them into a new, smaller room. Cindy had stuck to Sally's side, staying as far away from Peter – who hadn't made another attempt to speak with her – as possible.

For the past hour he had led the group of students around the "_evolution"_ rooms, showing them both extinct and currently living animals as well as what they could look like in the future thanks to gene modification.

In a movie they had been showed, displaying Oscorps development in the field throughout history, they had gotten a rather throughout explanation of how the biology worked. As the scientists in the film worked on an experiment with puppies Cindy had seen the majority of her group cringe, even Mr. Martin had looked away as the pups wailed.

"At this point in the project the majority of our experiments consists of reptiles and insects. Due to some legal issues we are not allowed to work on mammals quite yet, but believe me, we'll get there. Here to our right we can see the _Bitis Arietans Trioceros_, an african snake injected with mRNA from chameleons," the man continued and the students hurried to the glass container.

"Where is it?" Flash asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice as he looked at the guide. Cindy squinted her eyes but couldn't see it either. The man looked at Flash down his nose, a dazzling smile plastered on his lips.

"The chameleon DNA allow it to adjust its colours to the surrounding environment." He pressed a button at the side of the terrarium and the background picture changed from green canopy to brown soil, revealing a beautiful green snake with yellow eyes for a few seconds before it turned earthy brown.

"Woah!" Flash exclaimed, pressing his hands against the glass.

"What's that?" a blonde girl named Lara pointed out, nodding towards a bunch of smaller… aquariums? No, terrariums.

"This is our _aranea_ – spider – section," the man explained and as Cindy moved closer she found that the containers were home to a very unique spider each. With a shiver running down her spine she took a step back. "Each spider has been genetically modified to gain a new ability from their cousins."

He moved closer and placed his hand on the largest glass box, tapping it gently.

"In here is our superstar," he joked. "It has been given multiple sets of skills, some of which are the ability to jump to catch its prey, web multiple types of webs, and a precognitional sense that awares the spider of danger – a spider-sense, so to speak"

"It's not here," Ned, who was so intrigued his nose was practically touching the glass, pointed out. The guide took a look himself before smiling apologetically at the group of students.

"The scientists must have taken it to their labs for some follow-up," he explained, leaving the spiders to head to a new glass container. "Who would like to see a feathered lizard?"

"God can he just _please_ wipe that smug smile off his face already?" Sally muttered, rolling her eyes. Cindy smiled to herself as she continued after her friend.

She noticed Peter walking next to her, although he didn't as much as glance her way. Instead he peeked over the guide's shoulder to see the phenomenon, placing a hand on one of the glass boxes.

"This gorgeous addition will actually be moved to London next week. Isn't she lovely? The idea is to let her lay eggs to see if this could actually be a new species that could manage without human supervision-"

Peter hissed next to Cindy but his back was faced toward her so she couldn't see what had happened. He was slightly bent forward and she actually considered asking him if he was okay. However, before she could do anything at all a stinging pain on her ankle forced her to jump.

"Ouch!" she shrieked as she dropped to the ground to examine the source of the pain and when she saw what was there she would have screamed her head off if her voice hadn't gotten stuck in her throat.

In a swift motion she smacked away the spider and quickly jumped away, her heart in her throat, as she pointed at it.

"Ahh! Spider!" Lara exclaimed and her blonde hair got in her face as she violently moved backwards. The guide hadn't as much as turned around before a large shoe smacked down on the poor creature.

"I got it!" Kong yelled and, satisfied with himself, gave Flash a loud high five. The guide along with Mr. Martin hushed the students and moved them into another room, Cindy falling behind as she examined her ankle.

The skin was turning a bit red and swollen, but apart from that she seemed to be fine, although it throbbed an awful lot.

"You okay?"

Cindy looked up to see Sally standing by her side with worried eyes. She nodded and stood, placing a hand on the wall to steady herself.

"Yeah, just a bit dizzy," she replied as a wave of nausea hit her. "I think I have to sit down for a minute."

"I'll tell Mr. Martin," Sally mumbled and disappeared, leaving Cindy on her own for a minute before returning and hooking her arm through Cindy's. "Where do you wanna go? Outside? Bathroom?"

"Outside," Cindy panted, searching in her pocket for her inhaler.

After a few minutes they managed to find an exit and a bench to flomp down on. The crisp air felt nice to her lungs and the nausea started to wear off. Sally had bought her a bottle of water that she was slowly sipping on, along with a power bar.

"What happened?" her friend asked and Cindy took a long swig from the bottle.

"I," she began, unsure of what to say. "That spider bit me and I think I just got some reaction. I'm fine now, I think." She glanced down at her foot and noticed it was still red and swollen, but the throbbing had eased a bit.

"A spider bit you?" Sally questioned and wrinkled her nose.

"Yeah, the one Kong stepped on," she nodded.

"You'll be fine. My brother got bitten once and when mom took him to the doctor's they just laughed and said that it would disappear after a few days." Sally took a bite of the power bar before handing it over to her friend. Cindy took a small bite, still feeling slightly sick.

They sat outside a little while longer before heading inside to the warmth where they found a few chairs. The field trip was almost over anyways so there was no need to go search for the others.

The girls chatted lightly for a few minutes and as the sky outside began to darken they heard the familiar chatter of their classmates. Everybody were more than satisfied with the trip and Cindy watched Ned walk up to them with their coats in his hands – bless him.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked with a frown and she nodded in reply. "What happened, you just disappeared?"

"Yeah I didn't feel so well," she mumbled with a dry voice, taking another swig of water through a weary smile. In reality she was a bit too tired to be polite but Ned deserved it. Her eyes felt dry and itchy and the only way to keep them from hurting was to shut them, and on top of that her head felt soft as cotton.

"Where's Peter?" she heard Sally ask.

"Bathroom, he didn't feel so great either," Ned replied and she could hear him scratching his chin. "There's probably some virus going around."

"Ugh, I can't get sick now! I still have that physics report and I swear Mrs. Warren will murder me if I don't hand it in on time." The boy and girl continued their conversation as Cindy just focused on not falling asleep. However, once slumping down in the empty bus seat she couldn't stop the darkness from overwhelming her and she was out before she knew it.

She could have sworn it had only been two minutes before she was violently shaken awake again by Sally, who then practically carried her out of the bus that had stopped just a few blocks away from her house. A few other kids who also lived in the neighbourhood jumped out after them before the bus drove off to the next stop.

The nausea had returned and she both froze and sweated at the same time.

Geez, she felt even worse than before.

She leaned on Sally – who constantly swore under her breath – the whole way home and the girl even had to open the door for her. Neither her parents nor her little brother were home yet but through united forces they managed to get Cindy upstairs, where she took a sharp left turn to throw up in the toilet before stumbling into her room and falling onto her bed.

She couldn't remember the last time she had been this sick.

"Shit girl, what have you done?" she heard her friend mutter while throwing a cover over her. After that, the darkness absorbed her once again.

* * *

_**Author's note:**_

_**Ah, now we're getting somewhere ;) Next chapter is gonna be so much fun, can't wait to write it! I've had so many ideas for how Cindy's gonna discover her powers so we'll see which ones gonna make it through to the final cut. And don't worry, very soon there's gonna be a bunch of Cindy/Peter scenes (how's Cinter for a ship name?), just hang on!**_

_**Don't forget to leave your pretty thoughts on the chapter and maybe add what you want to see more of – Cinter/Cindy & Sally/anything else?**_

_**Until next time!**_


	6. Chapter 5

**_Okay so first of all I just have to say WOW. Since I posted the last chapter the amount of followers and favorites have more than doubled! You guys are crazy amazing – you make my day, every day._**

**_I'm sorry I haven't updated earlier, have had a bunch to do in school this week and two of the evenings I've had a full schedule, but I think next week isn't going to be as crazy. I'm thinking of getting a twitter/tumblr account where I can post updates on how the chapters are coming along and if I'm not gonna be able to post etc. Keep that though in mind and we'll come back to it in the end of the chapter!_**

**_Lucky Strike's alter ego: _**_I'm so glad you like it so far! Hopefully it will stay that way ;) Actually, it was never my meaning to imply that Peter shot her down only because of her looks, that seems very out of character for him, but rather that he's simply not interested in her. I've corrected it now so it doesn't give off the same vibe, but thank you for pointing that out! And no worries, I LOVE long reviews ;D_

_**Plutodragon:**__ Omg I totally have to work that in somewhere, pure gold!_

**_bwatuwant:_**_ Actually, I had never heard of her either until I read "The weight of the world" on wattpad and simply got so intrigued I read up on her. I was (still am) in a period where I read a lot of OC/Peter fics and wanted to create my own, but was still so hung up on Cindy that I decided to go with her story rather than create someone from scratch! Thank you for your very nice review x_

**_Many thanks to dragonthephantom, Celgress, Liltorgy, gossamermouse101, mirumy, UknLilac, and Guest for your reviews – they made me very happy to read! – and many thanks to all of you readers for, well, reading. It's a pleasure sharing this with you :)_**

* * *

Cindy sat up in a second, her head whipping from side to side to find the source of the thundering pounding. What was it – bullets? Someone trying to kick down the house?

"Cindy, sweetie, are you awake?" her mother's voice came from the other side of the door and the pounding stopped. No one was trying to break down the walls, it had been her mom knocking.

"Yeah," she croaked in reply, pressing her fingers against her temples in an attempt to ease the ache as her mother peeked in through the door. She was dressed in a blue suit with her hair pulled up in a neat bun, but her face was clean from makeup. "What time is it?"

Her mother walked over and sat down next to her on the bed and placed the back of her hand on her daughter's forehead, a few wrinkles between her perfect brows.

"You have no fever, at least," she mumbled. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm… fine." She swallowed dryly, taking a few seconds to actually feel how she was doing. "Just a headache."

Cindy peeked over at her nightstand to find out the time, since her mother had ignored the question, and the red numbers showed that it was seven fifteen in the morning, meaning that she had a little more than half an hour before her train left the station.

Practically jumping out of bed she stumbled around, kicking off yesterday's clothes and trying to find her school things, but nothing was there.

"Where's my bag?" she looked at her mother with panic in her eyes but was met by a most worried look.

"You don't remember last night?" she asked with a soft voice and as Cindy slowly shook her head she continued. "Sally was here when we got home, she said that you were sick and had thrown up. Honey, you've been sleeping for almost fourteen hours."

Cindy blinked.

She tried to understand what her mother had just told her but her mind just didn't comprehend.

_Fourteen hours_. She had never slept that long in her whole life.

"Cindy?"

"Yeah- yeah," she stuttered. "I'm fine, I have to go to school. Where's my bag?"

"Downstairs. Are you sure you-" but Cindy didn't hear as she sprinted to the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body.

A _very_ quick shower later, she hastily got dressed in a pair of black jeans and a comfy sweater before more or less butchering her hair with the brush in an attempt to make herself presentable.

She opened the tube of foundation and squeezed it onto the makeup sponge but froze as she actually looked at her own reflection.

Her skin was flawless, her acne completely gone.

She pulled and pinched at her skin but couldn't find a single pimple.

"What the f-"

"Cindy, do you want me to make a sandwich for you?" her father called from the other side of the door. He sounded a bit stressed and was probably in a hurry himself.

"Yeah, thanks!" she called back, still mesmerized of her reflection. For a few minutes she just stroke her cheeks and chin and felt the smooth skin before quickly adding some mascara and shaping her brows.

Her hand lingered a on the handle as she closed the door behind her, checking her phone for the time. She realized she had to go _now_ if she wanted to make it but something held her back.

Staring down at her hand she pulled but it wouldn't budge. It was like it had been glued to the handle.

"A.J.!" she screamed, trying to pull away. "Come fix this!"

Her younger brother appeared from behind a corner and pouted at her, crossing his arms in front of him.

"I didn't do anything!" he yelled back before sprinting down the stairs.

"Urgh!" she groaned loudly, her eyes going wide as her free hand tied into a fist. "Come back here you little-"

Suddenly she all but fell forward, finally free. However, the handle was still in her hand.

Confused, she let go of it but instead of falling to the ground it stayed in her palm. She took it with her other hand and tilted her palm vertically but was shocked to see that it wouldn't fall.

"What the hell?" She ended up shaking her hand so vigorously it eventually came loose and flew across the hallway. For a minute she just stared at it, trying to work her mind around what had just happened.

"Cindy!" Her father's voice caused her to jump and she quickly ran down the stairs, hurrying into the kitchen where she grabbed the sandwich wrapped in paper from the counter. Her father was nowhere to be seen but her brother sat by the table and shoved some cereals into his mouth as he glared at her with dark eyes. She found her backpack slumped against a wall close to the entrance and placed it by the door before throwing on her coat and boots.

"Bye!" she called but slammed the door shut before her parents had any chance to reply. Glancing down at the time on her phone she quickly fell into a power-walk toward the subway. It was only a ten minutes walk, but unfortunately she was three minutes later than usual.

The air was cool, as it had been for the past months, but as the sun peeked through a cloud she found the rays were actually warming her cheeks, implying that the winter was slowly melting into spring.

She passed a few stores and got stuck at a redlight and by the time the subway was within eyesight she had about a minute before the train would leave. She ran up the stairs as quickly as she could, her full bag bumping into a few people, and managed to push her way into the train just before the doors closed behind her.

Breathing heavily, she flomped down in a free seat and started to dig through her bag for the inhaler, all but feeling her throat starting to close. The tips of her fingers brushed against books, loose papers, and pens but not what she was looking for.

"Shit shit shit," she swore under her breath, starting to panic. '_Deep breaths, deep breaths!'_ she told herself as she leaned backwards and letting the back of her head fall back a little to open her airways.

That was when she realized, her breathing was completely fine.

Her chest rose and fell slowly and there were no signs of cramps. Hell, her heart wasn't even racing.

A shiver fled up her spine as she shot up straight, her jaw dropping slightly. The man in the opposite seat frowned at her over his newspaper and shook his head as his eyes returned to the small print.

She looked down at her hands, gulping. What the heck was happening?

When the train screeched to a stop at her station she was still in shock. Despite the short trip – just a bit over ten minutes – the weather had managed to change and small drops of water fell on her head.

A few other kids had gotten off as well and she followed them unconsciously over the football field, still lost in her mind.

Maybe she was still sick from yesterday and that made her feel lucid or something?

The weird thing, however, was that she didn't feel drowsy or warm or anything. In fact, she felt more alert than she had in weeks. She was just stressed, that was all. Yeah, all the homework and the stuff with Peter, and the fact that Sally wasn't that happy with her.

The students in the hallways seemed noisier than usual, yelling so loudly at each other that her ears hurt.

"Hey!" a voice said to her left and she whipped around only to find Ned flashing her a big smile, although his brows pinched together in confusion. "You okay today? You really didn't look that great last time I saw you."

She nodded quickly, brushing back a lock of long hair behind her ear – she had to get that extra scrunchie from her locker.

"Yeah I'm fine, I guess. I didn't miss anything big did I?" she asked, accompanying him down the corridor.

He looked a little like he had swallowed a lemon as he turned to her with an apologetic expression.

"We got to see this pretty rad gamma-laser thingy. They shot it through a bunch of things and yeah, sorry you missed that. Plus the machine you and Peter were talking about on the bus. I don't think he's coming today, he hasn't replied any of my texts," he went on and Cindy relaxed a little. One less thing to worry about.

Their continued their chat on their way to the lockers where they met up with Sally – who seemed to have forgotten the whole thing about Cindy ditching her and instead pressing her on how she was feeling – and everything started to feel like normal again. They left their coats and a few books and Cindy pulled her dark hair up into a ponytail before greeting the boy goodbye and heading toward maths.

The class was really intense and it was nice to take her mind off the chaos that had been that whole morning. Despite how the day had started off she was in a really good mood, not shy to raise her hand and flash smiles to the teacher when he asked questions.

During biology they got back their assignments from the beginning of the week, only to see that they had gotten an A along with some praising comments and a smile from their teacher.

Whilst cheering with her friend, she overheard Flash from behind them complaining over his own grade and arguing with the teacher who shamelessly pointed out a few paragraphs she disapproved of. It turned out Cindy was a big person because regardless of how satisfying it would have been to peek around and give him a bright smile she kept her eyes on her friend.

History went by smoothly as well, even though they received a killer report that was due next wednesday, and on top of that Mrs. Connor finished off the lesson with a pop-quiz about what they had learned that week, to make sure everyone was caught up.

"I mean it's pretty great that I have Ned now, so I don't have to eat all alone whilst you run off," Sally snorted as they left the classroom behind, surrounded by people complaining about their hunger. Like usual they had company to the lockers before Cindy would run off to help out at the school's tv studio.

"Yeah, it's great," Cindy smiled. "He's really nice."

"Although right now he's completely obsessed with this new movie that he's gonna see tomorrow, so I'll probably have to hear about that for the whole hour," her friend sighed whilst rolling her eyes and Cindy couldn't help but to laugh a little as she looked at her friend with wide eyes.

"Yeah he told me all about it this morning," she agreed. "He even talked about going seeing it a second time if it was as great as he thinks, and that we should totally join him."

Sally groaned a little but Cindy could see the faint smile that was playing on her lips.

"Maybe just the two of you should go?" she teased and Sally's head snapped her way.

"Watch it, _Sailor_." Cindy stuck her tongue out in her direction as she unlocked her locker, exchanging her bag for the sandwich her dad had made her that morning.

Greeting her friend goodbye she made her way to the studio, devouring the food before she had even gotten there – she had completely missed breakfast that morning due to the oversleeping and the bites felt like small pieces of heaven in her mouth.

She walked up to the door just as Betty Brant turned the corner ahead of her with a bunch of papers in her arms. Holding up the door for the junior, she flashed Cindy a polite smile that faded away as soon as she looked away and walked up to the table in front of the green screen.

"Where's _Jason_?" she demanded, looking around the room to find her co-star.

Cindy moved over to a smaller table with a bunch of papers, which she immediately started to sort.

Her job was to make sure the recording went smoothly and that both Jason and Betty had the right cards in the right order, as well as provide them with pretty much anything they needed to make sure they were on top. Most of the time people was just bossing her around, telling her to "_go there"_ and "_make sure this"_ and "_tell them that"_.

Once she had finished her sorting she took all the papers along with a few small microphones and headed over to Betty and Jason, who had finally joined them. They were wrapped up in a discussion about something and she placed the cards in front each of them as well as attaching the small mics to the collar of their shirts.

"Cindy," Betty began as Cindy was just about to leave them and she turned around. "Can you check on the lighting? You know how I like it." She smiled sweetly at her and Cindy nodded in reply.

"Yeah, of cou–"

Suddenly her whole body was tingling and the hair on her arms stood as she went through a somewhat out-of-body experience.

Before she even knew what was happening she had spun around and caught a to-go mug of scolding coffee mid-air, on its way to wash over Betty.

The girl in question stared at her. Jason stared at her. Cameron, the guy with a tray in his hands from which the cup had slipped, stared at her. In fact, most people in the room stared at her.

"Nice reflexes." Cameron placed a heavy hand on her shoulder as he took the cup from her hands, sending an apologetic smile to Betty who was still staring at Cindy.

She gulped, turning around and heading over to a table filled with bottles of water and fruit as people returned to occupying themselves with their work.

What the heck had that been?

She couldn't describe that feeling, although she could still feel the tingling sensation crawling over her skin like bugs. What was even more worrying was that she hadn't even seen Cameron coming up behind her and should not have known that mug was falling. It was like her instincts had gone crazy.

She didn't have much time to ponder on it, however, as they started to record but for the whole hour she just felt a bit off.

The feeling lasted throughout physics as well. It was actually a good thing that she had been ill last night because Sally just brushed off her odd behavior as a result of the fever.

Her friend did most of the talking that afternoon and was complaining about the math – no wait, chemistry – homework as they made their way into english class, seeing a bunch of students glued to one of the walls.

"What's the fuss?" Sally remarked and a girl closeby turned to them, having overheard the question.

"Mr. Herman's put everyone's poems up," she replied with a pained look, obviously not happy about their teacher's decision.

Cindy's heart began to race in her chest.

'_No no no no,'_ she chanted to herself as she pushed her way through the crowd until she finally faced the small, white notes pinned up on the wall. Skimming through them she finally found her own and fought the urge to pull it down when she saw her name scribbled in Mr. not-so neat handwriting.

"Yours is really great."

Cindy jumped a little and turned to her side with surprise in her eyes. Peter was looking at her with a polite smile but she saw the nervosity in his eyes – he was clearly testing the water around her since their conversation the last day and was waiting for her to reply. She couldn't help but feeling something was different about him though…

"Ned said you were sick?" was the first thing that came to her mind.

He wasn't supposed to be here, she hadn't prepared for this at all!

Peter's mouth twitched into a smile as he scratched the back of his neck, his eyes flashing to the poems.

"Yeah, uh, no I was just late. Overslept," he explained, biting on his lips so that his mouth became a straight line. That's when she noticed, he wasn't wearing his glasses.

Her lips parted as if she was gonna say something about it, but even if she would have had anything to say she was interrupted.

"God Cin," came Sally's voice from behind them. She was peeking over their shoulders with a deep frown on her forehead, her gaze glued on the poems. "You really had to go all Shakespeare on the homework? I spent like five minutes on mine."

Cindy read her poem with a dry lump in her throat, feeling extremely exposed as she felt Peter and Sally doing the same.

"_In freezing winds that bite my cheeks and nose,_

_and snow that block the road ahead of me,_

_I think of lips the color of a rose,_

_and the mere idea of them sets me free,_

_In misty fog that conceal cliffs ahead,_

_and dusky clouds that dim the light I see,_

_I think of eyes from which darkness has fled,_

_and the thought of them has me feeling glee,_

_In scorching deserts that burn my bare feet,_

_and a relentless sun that flakes my skin,_

_I think of a laugh so bell-like and pure,_

_and the memory of it makes me grin,_

_Rosy lips, rich eyes, and a melodic laugh,_

_three things that tear my soul and heart in half."_

She had thought about Peter when she wrote it, all but pouring her heart out, and she didn't like it one bit that everyone could read the private words.

Turned around on the spot she made her way to her and Peter's table, trying to figure out how to speak to him as little as possible during the lesson. Mr. Herman was a big fan of making them discuss questions in pairs before going through the answers, but she would just have to stay focused on the work and not allow him to mention yesterday.

"Hey, _Penis Parker_!" Flash laughed from behind her. Looking up she saw her partner moving toward her, his eyes locked on Flash. He didn't see Kong in the seat ahead lean a little to the side and extend his leg just as he passed.

Then everything happened very quickly.

Right before his foot hit Kong's leg Peter jumped swiftly, landing on the closest table and sliding across it smoothly until he sat in level with Cindy.

She and her two idiot-classmates just stared at him and frankly, Peter himself seemed just as surprised as the three of them, hil lips forming a small "_o"_.

"Can everyone please take their seats?" Mr. Herman called before any of them had a chance to make a comment and Peter simply slipped into the chair next to her without a word.

The lesson went by rather smoothly. She quickly forgot about what had just happened and instead focused on keeping up with the teacher's analysis of "_Hamlet"_, although she couldn't block out the sound of Peter's foot tapping frenetically on the floor.

To her surprise, the lesson went by as effortlessly as the previous ones had and Mr. Herman barely gave them any questions to discuss. He didn't even give them any homework for the next lesson, causing the students to cheer and whistle before exiting the room.

Peter disappeared before she had even finished packing her bag and she fell in next to Sally and Ned as they went through the door, feeling rather happy. Despite all the weird things that had happened during the day it was a good day. A great one, actually, and she had a feeling that all the drama with Peter and Sally was beginning to pass.

"We're gonna go grab some pizza," Ned declared as they made their way towards the lockers. "You wanna come?"

"Yeah come on Cin, cheesiest pizza in town!" Sally poked her in the ribs.

"Sounds fun!" she replied with a smile and could all but feel the hot cheese in her mouth.

The three of them continued their chat, arguing over which kind of pizza that was the best one and Ned swore he was gonna force them to try one with banana and peanuts on. The girls made disgusted noises and laughed as they opened their lockers.

Cindy zipped her bag shut and took out her coat before closing the metal door, Sally and Ned were still chatting closeby and waited for her to finish. As the lock clicked she took a step back. Or rather, she _tried_ taking a step back.

Her hand wouldn't move from the metal and she bounced back. She pulled again a little harder but nothing happened. It was like her hand was like glued to the metal and no matter how hard she pulled it wouldn't let go.

A thought struck her like lightning – this was exactly what had happened this morning with the bathroom door. Then she had thought it was her brother who had put glue on the handle, but she knew for a fact that this door was _not_ glued.

"Cin, you okay?" Sally asked and Cindy jumped around, hand still stuck on the door. She had to think of something, _fast_.

"Actually, I think I might be getting sick again. I feel kinda feverish," she replied with an apologetic smile. "But you two should go ahead, I'll update later how I'm feeling."

"Oh, okay," Sally nodded, her eyes a bit worried.

"But you'll join us to the station, right?" Ned chipped in, looking between the two girls. Cindy's brows shot up as she fumbled for something to say.

"Eh, no, actually I forgot something- I forgot that I have to do something for the school tv. Sort some manuscripts and stuff. You should go, it will probably take a while."

Sally narrowed her eyes at her, knowing that something didn't quite add up.

"Okay then, text me later," she just said before leaving along with Ned, who continued his argument concerning pizza.

Once they were out of sight she pulled her hand once again but nothing happened. Looking closer she found no evidence of anything sticky, somehow this was all her. She used her free hand to pull on her fingers, one at a time, but it was all in vain.

Sighing deeply she smacked her forehead against the cool metal.

Never mind, today was _not_ a great day.

* * *

_**Author's note:**_

_**The first glimpse into Cindy's new powers, more of that in the next chapter! Not a lot of Cinter interaction though and I'm afraid next one isn't going to be so much Pete either – he's busy figuring out his own things, but we're slowly getting there!**_

**_As I mentioned earlier, a twitter/tumblr would be a great way to interact with you guys and update you on the process, post playlists and stuff, maybe even posting a few teasers every now and then. Which one do you think would work best?_**

**_Don't forget to leave your wonderful thoughts behind! I love reading what you have to say and it's really nice to get to know who's tagging along on this story :D_**

_**Until next time! (which will be on monday evening (Swedish time) unless I'm completely off my game)**_


	7. Chapter 6

_**Yay finally! I wanna apologize for not keeping my word, I've been completely swamped with school and a bunch of other things so I decided to put this chapter on ice until I could actually focus and enjoy it, both for your sake and mine. That being said, this has been the hardest chapter to write so far. Since there's not a lot of dialogue I found it very hard to find the golden line, knowing that people will just jump ahead if I try to press out as many words as possible to make the chapter longer.**_

_**Also I've decided to create a little "update tab" on my profile (which I will update in a day or two) so you can keep track on where I am with the next chapter!**_

_**SnuffleTruff: **__I'm glad you noticed that! ;D_

_**dragonthephantom: **__Actually, I'm not adding Ben to this story. Since they don't mention him in Homecoming (which they probably would have done if he had died six months earlier) I'm not gonna go there. Also, I've seen it done so many times that it feels a bit done, so I'm taking another direction – Ben's still gonna play a part, but you're gonna see it once we get there!_

_**Faiiary (and Babe, I guess): **__I'm really glad you think so! I myself am very tired of reading (what feels like) the same fics over and over and eventually it just becomes too predictable. My goal is to finish the Homecoming storyline (which will be a bit like a book two) but I'm not completely set on Civil War yet. I would love to have her there, but at the same time I __**don't**__ want to throw her into something that doesn't make any sense for her own storyline._

_**BIG THANKS to everyone else who took their time to write a little something about last chapter: PrettyRecklessLaura, Laurel, Chest Fiend, crzychigurl343, GIJose, Celgress, and mirumy! I also wanna thank everyone who's been tagging along and reading, following, and favoriting – we're more than one hundred friends now after only six chapters, which I can't decide is amazing or just insane!**_

* * *

Cindy's knuckles were white as she held onto the straps of her backpack, still stunned as she walked the last few blocks home.

After about fifteen minutes she had managed to get her hand off the locker by pulling as hard as she could. Unfortunately, she had managed to rip off the whole metal door in the process and it had _still_ insisted on clinging on to her hand like it had been glued on.

She had wrapped her coat over it to hide it as she ran down the hallways and had quickly jumped into the first ally she had come to. Throwing her stuff on the ground she had used her free hand to literally _bend_ the metal until her other hand came loose. After a few minutes of looking at it in confusion, she picked it up once again to make sure she hadn't been dreaming and managed to crumple it into a ball, like it had been made of paper.

"You're not crazy – you're completely normal," she told herself as she passed the last corner to her street. "You're talking to yourself, but you're completely normal."

Her hand was shaking slightly as she dug up the keys from her pocket and unlocked the front door. She was all alone in the house, her parents would probably not be home for at least a few hours and A.J. was at one of his karate friends' before their lesson started.

She quickly locked the door behind her and threw her bag to the ground along with her coat before leaning back against the wall, slowly sliding down to the floor with her head in her hands.

Okay, two deep breaths. Time to gather all crazy thoughts.

There had been so many weird things happening within the past day and it just felt like a memory of a dream from a long time ago. Had everything actually happened _for real_? Shaking her head – still not capable of working her mind around it – she pulled up a notebook and a pen from her bag and started scribbling down everything that had happened.

First off, her hands had started to randomly stick to places – first the handle of the bathroom door during the morning and then to the surface of her locker. It wasn't glue or any other goo, it really was all her. Although she couldn't possibly understand how.

Secondly, her acne was completely gone and wherever it had gone her asthma seemed to have joined it. These were things that don't just randomly disappeared overnight, especially the latter one. She had been struggling with asthma since she was a little kid and she had never experienced anything like this before.

Thirdly, she had managed to catch a falling object before even seeing it. She had caught it on pure instinct, her body taking over the steering wheel without her permission.

And then finally, she had managed to crumple a piece of metal into a ball like it had been nothing.

It didn't make any sense, any of it.

Sighing in defeat she pulled herself back to her feet, moving into the kitchen to grab something to eat while scratching at the back of her neck. She could feel an ache starting to pound on the inside of her forehead.

She quickly made herself a toast with peanut butter and a few slices of banana before heading up the stairs to her room. Her homework wasn't going to write itself and right now she needed to occupy herself in one way or another, so she might as well do something productive.

As she passed A.J.'s bedroom that strange feeling hit her again and her whole body tingled like it was on vibration. Before she knew what was happening she had jumped to the side, her toast and bag falling to the floor as her hands and back pressed against the wall behind her.

On the opposite wall sat a dark spider, about the size of a chestnut. For just a second she could see its eyes gleaming at her, but apparently her sudden movement had scared it because it quickly ran off to hide behind a small side table.

Cindy exhaled, shaking her head. It had just been a little spider.

She was just about to pick up her things from the floor when she realized something – she was indeed pressed against the wall, but she was also three feet up into the air.

Exclaiming in shock she fell to the floor, landing softly on her hands and knees. What in the name of the devil had that been?

She scrambled to her feet, looking between her hands and the wall as she breathed heavily, trying to get her mind to connect the dots. Turns out, it's very hard to connect the dots _when you can't see them_.

Her hands had stuck to the surface, just like they had two times earlier during the day, and she had been sitting on the wall like a fly. As her heart started to slow down and the adrenaline wear off an idea formed in her head.

"Okay, let's try this one more time," she mumbled to herself as she approached the wall, her insides squirming. Carefully, she pressed one palm against the smooth surface and sighed in relief as she pulled it back without it sticking. She did the same thing with her other hand, pressing it gently against the wall but this time she couldn't pull it off.

For a second she panicked, scared that she would be stuck with her hand on the hallway for who-knows how long, having to explain to her family exactly why she was high-fiving their wall, but as she took a step backwards her hand followed.

By now Cindy felt a bit dizzy, like all she wanted was to go to sleep and not wake up for a few days, but at the same time this strange event intrigued her. It's like when you dream you can fly and don't ever want to wake up, but this was actually real.

Once again she pressed both palms against the wallpaper, lifting her foot up as well. She exhaled deeply as she pulled her free leg off the floor, finding her hands and foot still sticking to the surface.

"Okay," she breathed, "I'm a frickin' fly!"

Placing all her weight on her right leg she climbed yet another step up, and then another one, and then another one. Her mind was racing with excitement, her heart with alarm. It really was one of those strange moments when you feel warm and lightheaded, like it's all a dream, but at the same time you've never felt more alive.

Reaching the ceiling she carefully continued upside-down, her ponytail swinging from side to side and a wide smile on her lips.

She – Cindy Hye Moon – was _climbing walls_.

She was climbing walls!

A few seconds passed.

Shit – _she was climbing walls_.

The second the doubt started to grow inside her, her palms tingled slightly and she was falling. She fell onto the rug with a muffled '_thud'_ and the air escaped her lungs. Coughing, she sat up on her elbows, squinting up at the ceiling.

* * *

Cindy tossed her bag onto her bed, throwing the messed up toast in the bin that stood by her desk. She was standing in the middle of the room, breathing heavily as a million thoughts passed through her head at the same time. Eventually she heaved a sigh and let her head fall backwards.

What the heck was she gonna do now?

Hesitantly she went over to the desk and lifted up the bag of trash, picking up the metal bin. It was lighter than she remembered it to be, as if it was suddenly made out of plastic, and she threw it into the air a few times before wrapping her fingers around the edges.

Her hands curled slightly harder and the metal formed around her fingers like it had been playdough, allowing her to shape it. She did it again, using her left hand as well as she twisted the bin into a new, dented shape and made it look more like a project from art class.

A big grin formed on her lips as she fooled around with the toy – _um_ trash can – and bent it back to something that looked somewhat like its original shape. Honestly, it looked more like Franken-bin, but it would have to do.

Now her heart was racing again as her head whipped around the room as a single thought echoed in her head – what more could she do?

_Reflexes_! She had caught a goddamn coffee cup mid-air! But how do you check your reflexes – isn't the point with them that you _don't_ know when something's gonna happen? After a few minutes of pondering she quickly ran into her brother's room and fetched his orange little bouncing ball.

Pulling down her curtains so the window was protected she raised her arm above her head, her fingers curling around the small thing. She closed her eyes and exhaled a shaky breath before throwing the ball against the wall in front of her and praying it wouldn't hit her straight in her face.

That bruise would be _very_ hard to explain.

Although the world was completely dark she almost instantly felt the hairs on her arms and neck stand up as a shivering tingle spread through her body and she instantly took a swift step to the side only to duck half a second later. At a muffled '_thump'_ she opened her eyes to see the ball had landed among the pillows on her bed.

She tried it again a few times over, every time managing to dodge the ball on pure instincts and remain unharmed. It was so strange and thrilling at the same time that Cindy was convinced that she never would grow tired of it, her own little game. She only stopped once she realized she had caught the ball in mid-air above her head by standing on her tippy toes in perfect balance.

Carefully, she slowly lifted one of her feet so that she stood in a position any yoga instructor would turn green from and she didn't even sway a little.

She fell back down on her heels and stared down at her feet, dropping the ball somewhere to her right. Once again she jumped up to stand on her toes like a ballerina, stretching her arms out her sides to balance herself, although she didn't need to. It was a strange feeling, to be in perfect self-control. She had always been that girl who would fall on her nose from just standing up straight, so this was a nice change.

After a few more tries her confidence grew she bent forwards to place the palms of her hands on the floor, kicking her feet up into the air only to stand – once again – in perfect balance. Never before had she stood on her hands like that, completely on her own without a supporting wall or someone to hold her legs, and her arms didn't even hurt! She felt strong and energized, like she could do this all day.

Carefully, she pushed herself higher into the air so only the tips of her fingers pressed against the wooden boards. Any second she expected her arms to start burn or her legs to start swaying but no, she could even let her legs fall separate ways without falling on her nose.

Swiftly as a cat she fell back onto the balls of her feet and spun softly as she flomped down on her bed, her cheeks a bit flushed as she smiled to herself. Whatever this was it was amazing! It was like her senses were dialed up to max. No more being the slowest one in gym class, no more asthma, no more falling on her nose – this was the best thing that ever could have happened to her!

As a realization hit her, the smile quickly faded from her lips. All this amazing stuff, perhaps it wasn't a good thing? Maybe she was in fact really really sick and was hallucinating all of this, she knew tumors could do that. Maybe she had been exposed to some sort of dangerous substance?

Swallowing a dry lump she tipped over to her computer and opened up new tab, typing in "_climbing on walls"_, but only found a bunch of videos and websites for parkour. For over an hour she searched around to find any clue about these new… _abilities_, but was left disappointed.

"Geez," she sighed and pushed the chair backwards, letting her head fall back as she massaged her temples. She would have to look into this further, but not tonight. Her arms tickled lightly before she heard the sound of the front door being slammed shut.

"Cindy, I'm home!" her father's voice called after a few seconds. "Can you come downstairs?"

"Coming!" she replied, quickly tidying up her room a little before hurrying down the stairs, actively _not_ placing any hands on the reiling. The smell of chinese food hit her and she smiled to herself as she skipped down the last few steps, realizing how hungry she actually was.

"There you are," her dad kissed her forehead whilst unpacking the food from the to-go bags, "can you set the table? Mom's picking up your brother but they'll be home in a little while, I just got off the phone with her."

She nodded and crossed the kitchen to take out the plates and moved on toward the dining table in the other room. Deciding to go a bit fancy after the extremely weird day she'd had she made the decision to dress it in a dark green tablecloth before placing out the plates and cutlery along with a vase filled with yellow roses. Her mother was obsessed with them.

Now that the house was filled with the scent of hot food and some cozy old music that they both nodded along, Cindy started to relax. She forgot about her hands sticking to stuff and climbing on walls, being too busy rolling her eyes at a few puns her dad threw her way and helping with bringing out the food to the table.

After about ten minutes the front door was yanked open and her baby brother ran in, still dressed in his white karate attire, with their mom on his heels. She yanked him back into the hall and pulled off his boots before allowing him to sprint into the kitchen and jumping into the arms of their father.

"Daddy daddy you should have seen me-" he blurted but their dad interrupted him by putting a piece of bread into his son's mouth.

"First we wash our hands and sit down by the table, dinner's getting cold," he chuckled.

They all sat down and dug in on the meal, taking turns in talking about their day as per usual. A.J. spent a good ten minutes talking about his practise and telling them how he "_took down" _his instructor, something they all praised him for with sweet voices, being on the same page not to burst his bubble and point out that a fifty year old man on one hundred and seventy ibs _probably_ fell on his butt on purpose.

When it was Cindy's turn to let them in on her day she took a large gulp of water before dismissing it as just a regular day, saying that she and Sally got back their assignment and that she had been in the TV studio during lunch. She answered their follow-ups as shortly as possible without sounding absent-minded before taking advantage of the subject "Betty Brant" and asking her mother about her work.

Overall it was a nice dinner – although her brother kept trying to steal food off her plate – and their parents made the suggestion that they should rent a movie before getting ready for bed, something both Cindy and A.J. approved of.

"You guys need any help or can I take a quick shower before we start?" she asked as she leaned into the doorway of the kitchen. Her mom looked up with a dismissive frown and shook her head.

"Go ahead, we'll call you when we're done. You want popcorn to the film?"

"Yeah!" she replied with a big smile as she turned around to head upstairs, but looked back as her father called her name.

"Your phone, you have a message from Sally," he read as he handed it to her over his wife where she stood over the sink and Cindy leaned forward. However, with a short body comes short arms and she was just a few inches short.

Stretching toward his extended hand a strange feeling vibrated through her arm and before she knew it some sticky, white goo came out of the tips of her fingers and went all over her poor parents, both of which exclaimed in shock.

"_Shit_!" Cindy breathed as she slammed a hand over her mouth.

* * *

_**Author's note:**_

_**I'm so excited for the next chapter, it's gonna be a blast to write! Don't forget to check out my profile in a few days, and don't forget to leave your pretty thoughts behind!**_

_**Until next time!**_


	8. Chapter 7

**This chapter ended up being ****_way_**** longer than intended, but what can I say – it was so much fun to write and I wanted to make it up to you for the last chapter being so short.**

**It's way too late to answer any reviews, but I still wanna thank ****nameword, mirumy, Lucky Strike's alter ego, SnuffleTruff, FALLING-ANGEL24, rayla, .2019, and Laurel for taking the time to let me know your thoughts – I love you guys – and also everyone who's added this story to your follow/favorite list! **

**Now onwards to the chapter, we'll finally see some more of Peter this time around!**

**PS. If you wanna know how I'm doing on the next chapter, just take a quick look on my profile and under the "update tab". I'm updating it as I go, so you'll see how much I've got left!**

* * *

"I know you've all played dodgeball for years, but after last time," coach Wilson eyed a few boys in the front of the row, Flash and Kong being two of them, "I think we all need a _reminder_ of the rules."

A wave of grunts came from the students, currently seated on the gym gallery, and Cindy zoomed out, her cheek resting in her hand. She knew the rules, and she never broke them.

She subtly glanced down at her left hand, tying it into a small fist and watching how her arm flexed, forming a visible line below her bicep.

She smirked to herself. For the past week she had been playing around with these newfound abilities and she still couldn't quite believe it.

Not only could she climb walls – or any surface for that matter – but her physique had changed drastically.

Although she was still 5'4" and thin as a walking stick, her muscles were more toned than before and her balance and agility were outrageously improved. Without breaking a sweat she could do flips and splits, standing on her hands without swaying even a little, and she could shoot spider web from the tips of her fingers.

Yes, _spider web_.

After the incident last friday night where she had accidentally webbed up her parents – something she had managed to brush off as a physics project – she had spent the whole night staring at the ceiling trying to figure out what was happening to her.

Half past four in the morning it had hit her.

During the saturday she had gone back to the exhibition her class had been to two days earlier, heading straight for the reptile section to look at the spiders.

It had looked just same as it had two days earlier, except that the largest terrarium, the one containing their genetically modified "_superstar"_, was gone. The glass cage had been empty when they had been there and the guide had brushed it off by saying that the scientists had taken it away.

In reality, it had somehow escaped and ended up a couple of feet away, biting Cindy on her ankle when she had stood there listening to the guide. _That_ was the reason she had slept for fourteen hours and then woken up climbing walls and shooting webs.

Somehow the spider had managed to inject her with the same stuff the scientists had injected it with, causing Cindy's DNA to change.

The sticking-to-stuff she had learned to control somewhat decently, whenever it happened she just had to relax and focus on visualizing what she wanted to happen next – letting go of the thing she was stuck to.

What was more worrying, however, was her reflexes and the tingly feeling that appeared just before anything happened.

Whenever a heavy door closed, or someone laughed a little too loud, or Sally poked her in the ribs, or even when someone coughed, her first instinct was to jump up at the roof. Luckily, she had managed to avoid this happening while others were around.

That being said, she still woke up every morning clinging onto the ceiling as the morning alarm went off.

Worst of all was the school bell. She constantly had to check the clock and prepare herself by grabbing onto the edge of her chair. At this point she ignored it when the hairs on her arms stood, brushing it off as something unimportant.

"_Danger"_-alert sense her ass.

It had been hard at first to make her peace with it, this whole spider-thing. During the first few days she had cried herself to sleep debating on whether she should tell her parents or a doctor or Sally or _anyone_ about what was happening to her – what if she was dying?

But the more she thought about it, and the more comfortable she got in her new body, it became clearer that if anyone found out she was climbing the walls she would immediately be sent off to an institution somewhere.

The world was changing, new people with enhanced abilities were discovered every week and Cindy just wanted her life to be normal and like it always had been, she wanted to live with her family.

She hadn't even told Sally about any of this.

"-and that's why we're gonna use the _soft_ balls from now on," the coach said and the kids in front of him groaned once again. Cindy was just glad he hadn't used his whistle yet, god knows what would happen then.

Her arms and neck tingled and someone a few rows behind sneezed.

"Now, Finn and Lara," their coach continued, throwing two thin vests in different colors at the boy and girl holding each other's hands in the front row. "You're captains of a team each. Take your pick," he gestured at the rest of the class before hurrying over to grab some more vests from the storage.

Cindy smiled a little – since Lara and Finn were one of the school's serious couples it meant that they probably would go a bit easy on each other, keeping it a fair game.

"Ladies first," Finn winked at Lara, who beamed at him in reply.

They were almost so sweet it hurt your teeth.

Finn was a really big guy and was the quarterback standby for the school's football team, although Lara made up for his height with her long legs. She was a beautiful girl and with her ice blue eyes and long, blonde hair that curled naturally over her shoulders she could charm any guy – or girl for that matter – out of his shoes.

She was also bright as polished silverware.

"Hm," she began, tapping a finger on a spot below her ear as she narrowed her eyes at her classmates. "Flash."

The boy in question couldn't help but flashing her a cocky smile as he came to stand by her side, although he quickly looked away when he found Finn glaring at him from the corner of his eyes.

"Elisa, get over here," Finn called and high fived the captain of the women's track team as she took her place next to him. She was seriously fast, Cindy had even heard a rumor that she already had been offered a few scholarships that awaited her graduation.

The couple kept taking turns until there was only that _bunch_ of kids left. You know, the ones that were either slow, overweight, or asthmatic.

"Pete," Finn called with crossed arms. It was clear he didn't really care who was left anymore, but seemed to go on the ones with least problems.

Peter stood up and jogged down the stairs rather smoothly to find a place in the back of the bunch. Cindy quirked a brow at the fact that he was the only one with a long sleeved sweater instead of a tank or t-shirt like the rest of them – he must be sweating to death in that thing.

Her arms tingled lightly.

"Cindy," Lara called and she looked up to find her new captain smiling warmly at her.

They didn't know each other that well, but had gone to the same schools since kindergarten and were lab partners in chemistry.

She walked down the stairs and joined the rest of her team. The reaping – as Sally liked to call it – went on for a few minutes longer and she watched with sad eyes as Sally made her way over to the other team, where she walked up to Peter and whispered a comment in his ear. He turned to her with raised brows in an agreeing look.

Ned – the poor thing – was the last one to be chosen and walked over to Cindy's team with hanging shoulders. They were an uneven number, meaning that Lara's team had a small advantage by being one more.

"Hey, I'm glad we're on the same team," Cindy encouraged as she nudged him in the arm and he gave her a hearty smile in reply.

Cindy's neck tingled just before a sharp whistle echoed through the grand room and she jumped a good foot into the air.

With her heart in her throat she quickly looked around to see if anyone had noticed, but everyone seemed to focus on the coach.

"Team Finn take the right side, team Lara the other," he instructed with a dry voice. To be honest, he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there. "Take your places behind the line."

Cindy's senses we're going crazy at this point and her body tingled so bad she almost believed she had bugs crawling under her skin. Any second now the whistle would sound and about fifteen kids would run toward her trying to hit her with balls – no wonder her danger-sense was maxing out.

On a side note, she really had to come up with a better name than "_danger-sense"_, since it really didn't exclusively warn her for danger but seemed to be more of a "_heads-up"_ feature.

The sharp tone of the whistle echoed and Cindy once again jumped into the air as the people around her started to move. Sne knew it wasn't any point in running up to the front but instead readied herself for the incoming.

Indeed, two soft balls came flying her way and before she even knew it she had ducked under the first one and caught the second one in her hands.

"Finn, you're out!" Wilson yelled, a note of hesitation or wonder in his voice.

As Cindy looked up she found the other team's captain staring at her with a dumbfounded expression before moving to the side to do his punishment ten burpees. She noticed a few others glancing at her with surprised frowns – Sally being one among them – and she swallowed dryly.

This whole not-letting-anyone-know thing was going to be much harder than she expected. She would have to work against the forces inside her that told her what to do and let herself be hit in order to appear like everything was normal.

Without aiming or really using her new strength she threw the ball at the other court, missing a boy by three feet. She continued ducking and did her best to stop herself from jumping so much, but there wasn't really much she could do about it.

Deciding it would be best to be in the back of the court, she hurried over to stand behind a group of three girls and Ned. Her senses calmed down somewhat and allowed her to peek over to the other side of the court, without freaking out over flying balls.

Sally had been hit and stood outside the court alongside a few others trying to finish her burpees.

She hated this, Cindy knew. Dodgeball was on her top three worsts in gym class, right alongside swimming and climbing the rope.

She glanced out over the court again and spotted Peter, managing to dodge a hard ball thrown by Flash by sliding to the side. He looked uncharacteristically alert and ducked under another ball before jumping a few feet up into the air to catch one that he sent flying right back at Flash. The boy in question was too surprised to move and the ball hit him hard on the shoulder.

Cindy had to stop herself from giggling as Flash winced and started to yell something back as the coach called him out, and he went over to the side line pouting.

Her eyes met Peter's, who had a wide grin on his lips, and for a minute their gazes locked.

They hadn't really spoken to one another since she called him out at the museum, apart from polite comments and greetings and when they were obliged to talk in class. She could tell he was giving her space and was a bit unsure of how to talk to her. She still wasn't completely sure if he knew that she had overheard him in the cafeteria, but she guessed that he didn't want to bring it up in case she had no idea what he was talking about.

That would be awkward.

Honestly, Cindy's anger with him had started to fade and it felt easier and easier to see him in the hallways and next to her in english. It was like she finally had started to make her peace with that her emotions for the past four years had been more or less thrown in a bin.

Also, she was too busy trying to figure out the whole spider-situation to think about boys.

It didn't mean that she wanted to hang out with him, just that she tolerated him enough to leave it alone. Being mad takes its toll, even if you have super-stamina.

Actually, there had been something different about him this past week, something that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Her danger-sense maxed out and the two teens broke their contact as Cindy slid away to the left so that she almost stood on her tippy toes, avoiding getting a hard ball to her head.

"Parker, you're out!" she heard the coach yell and decided that it would be best to focus her energy on not getting hit by a ball instead of gazing at her ex-crush.

For the rest of the hour she managed to dodge every ball coming her way, although she a few times pretended to have been hit and went over to the side of the court to do her burpees. She had been aware of the time toward the end and wasn't too startled as the bell rang, calling it the end of the day.

"Hey," Sally panted as she caught up with Cindy, giving her a quirked brow in annoyance. "Have you even been sweating?"

She glanced down at her shirt and noticed that it was – in fact – as dry as it had been when she put it on, even though she had been running around for the good part of an hour – another effect of the spider bite.

"Eh, my mom got me this new deo that's _really_ good," she lied as she smiled wryly, scratching at the back of her neck. "But hey, do you wanna hang out a few hours? Mom's working late so I have to pick up A.J. from his karate. Plus, we haven't hung out in forever."

Sally scoffed, but put her arm around Cindy's shoulders.

"Yeah, well, you've been busy all week." She didn't sound too happy about having been tossed to the side the past week, but Cindy really hadn't dared being around people until she felt like she had gotten herself under control. "Actually, Ned and I said that we were gonna go check out that new coffee shop down on thirty-seventh. You know, by the cinema. I mean, you are more than welcome to join us if you want."

Sally shrugged as she let go of Cindy's shoulders and entered the women's dressing room.

For the first time in forever, she actually couldn't tell what her friend was thinking. Either she was dropping a hint that she wanted to go alone with Ned and just invited her for the sake of being polite, or she was testing her to see if Cindy was going to ditch them again.

"Yeah I'll come," she replied as she opened her locker and she exhaled – relieved – as Sally beamed at her.

"Great! They're supposed to have these chocolate muffins that are to die for, I heard Jenna talk about them in-"

"Hey," Cindy interrupted, frowning as she realized something. "When did you guys decide this? We've barely seen him today."

She noticed her friend's cheeks turn a shade of pink as she deliberately avoided looking at her, focusing on untying her shoes.

"Yeah, well, we texted a bit earlier," she explained, throwing the sneakers into her bag.

Cindy smirked a little, scratching at a spot above her lips to hide it. She knew better than to question Sally further. For what it mattered she actually looked forward to meeting up with her and Ned and actually socialize a little for the first time in forever.

They changed their clothes, Sally chatting on about how much she hated dodgeball and burpees and coach Wilson, before walking toward their lockers, where Ned and Sally had decided to meet up.

He was already there and was in the middle of putting his coat on, chatting the ears off Peter who stood a few lockers away all but throwing his jacket on.

"Hey," Sally greeted as the two girls opened their own lockers and started to pull out their clothes as well.

"Hey!" Ned called with a wide grin as he noticed them. "Hey Pete, you wanna come to that new coffee place?"

Peter looked up, his eyes wide like a deer in headlights and his jaw slightly slack with hesitation. She could all but hear the cogs turning inside his head.

"The, eh… Are all of you going?" he asked, focusing on putting down a few books into his backpack. He seemed a bit disoriented, had he gotten a ball to his head earlier or what?

"Yep," Cindy replied for the three of them with a tilt of her head, popping the 'p'. For the first time she felt like she didn't have to avoid him and actually could spend an hour with him without getting caught up on what he'd said a week earlier.

Peter bit softly on his bottom lip as he glanced toward the end of the corridor like all he really wanted to do was to run out of there.

"Yeah, I'll come," he agreed finally, shooting them a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

The four of them grabbed their beanies and scarfs and made their way over the football field. Ned and Sally walked between her and Peter, who kept his hands in his pockets and his head down, and argued with each other about something they had been talking about in an earlier conversation.

"Jesus Christ, Ned, magnets doesn't work like that," Sally groaned, rubbing her temples. "Back me up Cin."

"Yeah she's right," the girl replied, sending an apologetic smile to the boy between them, and Sally raised her hands into the air.

"What did I say!"

"However, it _would_ be possible with electromagnets in certain conditions. I watched a guy on youtube explain it a few months back," she chipped in and Ned lit up.

"Right! _Thank you_ Cindy, no wonder you're on the decathlon team," he praised as they hurried over a street before the lights turned.

Their chat continued as they headed down the street toward where the coffee place were and Cindy's senses were constantly warning her about honking cars and people bumping into her and she constantly had to ignore the urge to jump to the side all the time.

She swore to God she would smack her head against a wall until she couldn't feel a thing if it continued like this.

It had just begun to snow as they headed through the doors of the place called "_Sp__oo__ns"_, with an infinity symbol forming the two 'o's, and the scent of coffee and cinnamon hit them like a wall. The place wasn't too swamped, only enough so that a small queue formed in front of the cashier.

Cindy and the two boys ordered each a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream as Sally took a plain coffee – Cindy still couldn't understand how she could drink it – before flomping down in two leather couches opposite to each other. The large window by their side revealed the cinema across the street with its neon signs and people coming and going.

"So, how did you guys do on your physics test?" Ned asked and took a bite of his chocolate muffin. She heard Sally groan next to her and her friend put down the coffee before leaning backwards and crossing her arms.

"I only got eighty-five percent," she complained. "I swear Mrs. Warren's got it in for me, ever since forgot that paper."

"Come on, Sal," Cindy smirked, warming her – still – frozen hands around the hot mug. "She's not '_got it in'_ for you."

Her friend glared at her before shaking her head.

"Yeah well easy for _you_ to say, Miss Perfect Memory."

Cindy rolled her eyes, trying to distract them from her cheeks that went a bit pink by embarrassment.

"Hey, Mrs. Warren's awesome," Peter chipped in, quirking a brow at Sally with a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips. The cozy atmosphere and the soft background music must have caused him to warm up a bit.

Sally just shook her head, nibbling on her chocolate chip cookie.

"Can we please talk about anything else than school?" she groaned before lighting up a little. "Hey Cin and Peter, don't you have the decathlon regionals soon?"

"Uh, yeah, in a few weeks," Peter replied and smiled a little as he remembered it and Cindy noticed a few freckles on his nose.

"April ninth," Cindy added, taking a sip of hot cocoa that had cooled down a bit by now. "We missed you on the practise on tuesday."

Her eyes flickered up to meet Peter's and he looked a bit taken by surprise that she had addressed him – for the first time in a week – his brows slightly raised.

"Eh, um, yeah I was– I had to help May, with a thing," he fumbled, blinking a few times too many as he shrugged it off. "I forgot to tell Olivia."

A small wrinkle appeared between her brows as her eyes narrowed slightly in thought, she was just about to open her mouth again as Sally jumped in.

"Speaking of Olivia, I heard she got a scholarship from Oxford." Ned all but spit out his drink.

"No way! Really?"

"Why are you so surprised," Cindy chuckled lightly, giving the boy a questioning frown. "She's like the smartest person in school. They got all the way to nationals last year thanks to her, and she _doesn't_ have photographic memory."

Ned shrugged, snuggling back into the the couch.

"Yeah but, still. I would totally join the team if it got me into any university I wanted," he stated before taking another bite of his muffin and Cindy just rolled her eyes.

They continued chatting about something else and the time seemed to disappear, the four students only being interrupted every now and then by a waitress that picked up their dishes.

For the first time in a long time she was actually enjoying herself and it wasn't until her phone lit up by a text from her father, saying that he would be a bit late, that she realized she had to go.

"Guys, I have to go pick up A.J. from his practice," she began, pulling her hands through the arms of her coat, "but this was really nice. We should come here again sometime."

She smiled at them and both Ned and Sally beamed back at her.

"Actually," Peter began, standing up and pulling on his coat as well. "I have to go too."

"Where?" Ned asked with a doubtingly and gave him a questioning frown. The three of them stared at the boy whose shoulders raised toward the tips of his ears as he buried his hands in his pockets.

"I… promised May to help her out with dinner," he brushed off and heaved his backpack onto his shoulder.

"Well, okay then. Don't burn down the kitchen," Sally chimed in, breaking the awkward silence, and Peter's mouth twitched into a wry smile.

"Yeah, I won't," he assured as he scratched at the back of his neck as he went over to stand by Cindy's side. "See you guys tomorrow!"

"See ya!" Ned and Sally replied in choir and Cindy waved at them before following Peter out the door and into the dark afternoon, biting her tongue.

Hanging out with Peter when Ned and Sally were around was one thing, but now she would actually have to _talk_ to him.

They started walking down the street with an awkward silence tugging between them as none of them wanted to be the first to break it.

As they came to a red light Cindy's neck tingled and she jumped with a small gasp, only to notice that a dog was sniffing at her. Exhaling, she turned back and found Peter glancing at her curiously.

"It surprised me," she brushed off with a shrug, feeling her cheeks burn a little.

She focused her eyes on the lights at the other end of the crosswalk and hurried off as they changed, Peter's long strides catching up with her.

A few minutes passed as they walked side by side, still in silence.

"I've read up on a few plays," Cindy finally spoke up and looked at the boy beside her. His brows shot up as he turned to her, blinking. "Shakespeare, for english class."

"Oh, yeah right, that's great," he babbled and his eyes lit up a little. "I've read up on a few as well, and," he shrugged painfully, "May showed me a few old movies, but I looked into the real plays as well."

"That's great," she smiled down at her shoes. Her senses screamed at her to jump to the side to avoid a fly but she forced herself to ignore them. "Have any favorite so far?"

Peter pondered the question for a moment.

"Much ado about nothing," he finally stated, nodding his head.

"Much ado about nothing?" Cindy sniggered in surprise. "Why?"

She looked at him with a quirked brow as she awaited his answer.

Peter shrugged, smiling wryly as he looked down at his feet.

"I don't know, I like the story. It's really funny and exciting and honestly, I think it's quite modern. You know, Hero's innocent but still her reputation is ruined by a rumor," he pointed out. "And Beatrice and Benedick are fantastic."

Cindy thought about it for a minute before nodding.

"Yeah," she smiled, her eyes looking down at the pavement. "You're right."

Peter's eyes sparkled a little as he straightened himself. He was obviously feeling more comfortable now and Cindy felt that way too. Maybe working with him wouldn't be that bad.

They were almost at the train station by now, they just had to cross the street. Still looking down at her shoes Cindy stepped out into the street, following a guy who went a couple of feet ahead of her.

Her arms and neck started tingling violently but she – very much annoyed – pushed away the urge of jumping backwards and instead bit on the inside of her cheek.

The sound of screeching tires hit her ears and her head shot up.

For a split second she looked into the eyes of a terrified driver, but before she could do anything she was violently pulled backwards and spun into a steady embrace.

Peter's embrace.

Their noses were only an inch away from each other and one of his hands held her arm in a firm grasp as the other was on the small of her back, holding her firmly against him.

For what felt like minutes, their dark eyes stared into each other.

Cindy was stunned. Her jaw had gone completely slack as her lips remained empty of words, her mind spinning too fast to come up with anything to say.

Peter seemed, if possible, even more surprised than she was and was looking down at her with wide eyes and his mouth forming an 'o'.

"Are you kids okay?" the driver called out the window, a few drops of sweat visible on his forehead. He was a middle aged man and even if you wouldn't be able to hear the two babies wailing from the back seat you could still smell the stress off him from miles away.

"Yeah," Peter replies, letting go of her and taking a step back. He buried his hands in his pockets as he shot an annoyed glare at the driver. "We had a green light, you know."

The man raised his hand into the air as he drove off.

"Sorry!" he called before pulling the window back up. Peter was still staring daggers at the car even after it had disappeared.

Cindy cleared her throat a little as she drew back a strand of loose hair behind her ear.

"Th- thanks," she stuttered quietly. She looked both ways before stepping out into the street again as the lights had turned back to green.

"Are you okay?" he asked, glancing at her from the corner of his eyes. She noticed his brows were slightly pinched together in worry. She shrugged with a shake of her head.

"Yeah I'm fine. That was just… Quick reflexes," she breathed with a frown. "How did you do that?"

She noticed his jaw tense. His raised brows caused wrinkles to appear on his forehead as he looked down, shaking his head.

"I- I don't know, I guess it was just adrenaline."

They walked in silence for a moment, Cindy replaying the scene over and over in her head – the tingling feeling, the panic in the driver's eyes, Peter holding her in his arms – but as they got to the stairs leading up to the station Peter stopped.

"I have to pick up some eggs and stuff," he said and nodded toward the store on the other side of the street. His face was still a bit tense but she figured he was still in shock from the accident – she still was. "But you should go ahead, I think I'll be a while."

"Yeah, sure," she mumbled as she fiddled with her gloves. For a few seconds they just looked at each other as unsaid words played on their slightly parted lips.

Cindy was the first one to break the silence.

"Thanks again, it was…" she fumbled for the right words – she had never had to thank anyone for saving her life before. "If there's anything I can do–"

Peter shook his head and a genuine smile tugged at his lips.

"No no, it's nothing, really," he brushed off as he drew his hand through his hair. "I'm just glad you didn't get hurt."

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then." Cindy sucked at her lips, taking a few steps backwards up the stairs. "Don't forget the english homework," she joked, knowing very well that he did his homework pretty much as soon as he got it.

"Oh, _oh_, right," his eyes widened a little, "I had completely forgotten about it."

Cindy frowned and was just about to open her mouth again as she heard the train arriving at the platform above.

"Oh I have to go, see ya!" she waved, hurrying up the steps as Peter called "_bye"_ behind her. She sprinted up the stairs and managed to get into the train just in time before the doors closed behind her.

* * *

"Where's mommy?"

"She's working late, smell-stein. Now go change before my nose falls off." Cindy nudged her brother in the direction of the changing room.

"No! I want my suit on!" he pouted, stomping his foot on the ground.

"I'm not taking the train with you in that," she scoffed. "_Go change_, or else the boogie-man might pay a visit, I hear he likes smelly kids."

"I don't smell!" he yelled and crossed his arms but – to Cindy's relief – headed into the locker room to change his clothes back to normal.

She leaned against a wall as she waited, her eyes skimming through the room.

A bunch of parents and babysitters were waiting for their kids to join them and the ones that had already changed were screaming their lungs out at each other as they the adults tied their shoes.

Rolling her eyes, they landed on a wall filled with various ads for the training center. "_Judo for seven-year-olds"_, "_Adult boxing"_, "_Self defence"_, but something tugged in her gut as her eyes fell on one at the bottom.

"_Material arts for beginners – master the art of self control"_.

She moved a little closer, tracing the edge of the page with her hand.

"Interested?"

She turned to see A.J.'s instructor standing by her side, smiling warmly at her.

"I don't know," she started but he chipped in before she could say anything more.

"We have a class tomorrow at five p.m. – join us! First time is free," he teased her with a light voice as he removed the ad from the board and handed it to her. "We could use a few girls, the guys tend to get a bit too cocky for their own good. I bet you're gonna be a hit if you're half as good as your brother," he winked and Cindy smiled.

"What?" The two of them looked up to find A.J. – fully dressed in his regular clothes – looking up at them.

"I'm joining your karate class," Cindy said in a serious voice as she crossed her arms and looked down at her brother. From the corner of her eyes she could see the instructor smile.

"Yes, she's a fine candidate," he said with a grin and gave her a pat on the back before looking down at little A.J..

He started to cry.

* * *

**Yep, told you that was gonna be long.**

**I'm really curious of your thoughts of this chapter, with all the Cindy-spider stuff going on and her relationship to Peter, so please take the time to write down your thoughts – it would make me over the top happy :)**

**That's all from me,**

**Until next time x**


	9. Chapter 8

**At last! The reason this is so late is because one: I had a mini-vacation with no time to write at all, and two: these past few days I've had to focus on a school presentation – I've finally graduated my one-year uni course! **

**Now, as a few of you might have noticed I've added a cast + playlist to the summary, so for those of you who like that stuff make sure to check it out :) I hope you're ready for this chapter 'cause it's a hell of a ride: we have some Cindy & Sally scenes, some Cinter-fluff, and ****_finally_****some – as you might have figured out from the title – Silk action! I'm so excited to really get this story going and I can't wait to introduce you to this book's villain, we're getting real close now.**

**Axarell: **Well I'm glad you took the time :) Actually, I'm not going to include their "attraction" in this fic, since it feels wrong to base a romance story around the fact that they don't like each other because they really _like_ each other but rather because their instincts tell them to. Hope that's not a deal-breaker!

**crzychigurl343: **RIGHT!? I think it's so silly and sure, I get how the superstrength and stuff makes it easier to fight, but like you said, I really want her to _learn_ to fight rather than magically inherit the skill.

**GIJose: **Yeah I'm really looking forward to it :P This book (no. 1) will focus on the semester before Homecoming, but I'm really excited to write her into the story and have a bunch of ideas already!

**KawaiiPenguinMutation: **Well I'm glad you changed your mind and I like that you've already adapted her nickname XD

**Also many thanks to ****_ .2019_****, ****_PrettyRecklessLaura_****, ****_ThatNerd1_****, ****_Avenger2003_****, ****_dragothephantom_****, and ****_SnuffleTruff_**** for taking your time to drop by a review – you guys make my day – and to everyone who's joined our little adventure. We've got over 150 friends following this story now and a 100 favorites, which is really insane – thank you, you make me so incredibly happy!**

* * *

A small string of web shot out from Cindy's index finger to land on a pencil a few inches away. Her aim was improving, she realized with a smile.

Quickly checking that no one around her was looking she touched the neat substance with her other hand, following the string up and down with the tips of her fingers.

It was surprisingly silky, and – not-so surprisingly – sticky. If it wasn't for her enhanced strength and therefore ability to break it she wouldn't dare touching it.

"-hence, the color of the flame will vary depending on the element in use, which is the reason some of you received green flames as a result while others got purple ones," their chemistry teacher finished just before the bell rang. "Thank you for participating, have a nice weekend."

A few students replied politely before packing up their stuff and walking toward their next class..

Cindy took of her safety glasses and flashed Lara a smile before stuffing her notebook down into her bag. The girl was a good partner and since chemistry was her favorite subject – and the fact that she was one of the best students in said subject – she and Cindy were often the first couple to finish the labs.

Lara's mother was a reacherching scientist in the field and were experimenting new medicines, something Lara herself had said she wanted to do. Every time they got back an exam she received an "excellent work, Miss Grant!" while the rest of the students had to be satisfied with a "nice job" at the very best.

"See ya in english," Lara smiled but her pale blue eyes were locked on the doorway as she hurried over to kiss her awaiting boyfriend.

"How is it fair that you get Lara when I'm stuck with Flash?" Sally complained as she leaned against Cindy's table. "I mean, he can't even follow simple instructions!"

"Yeah, well," Cindy shrugged, "there are only three months left, I think you'll survive."

Sally stuck her tongue out in her direction as the two girls exited the room to head toward their lockers. Their history teacher had called in sick a bit too late for the principal to arrange a sub, so they had about an hour of free time before lunch.

"So how did it go yesterday?" Sally inquired and pursed her lips, glancing sideways at her friend.

"Fine, I guess. Took a while to convince A.J. to change his clothes, and I'm joining this material arts class–"

"Not that, moron, I mean how did it go to talk to Peter?"

Cindy stopped in her tracks and looked at her friend – who didn't stop until she stood in front of Cindy with crossed arms – with a dumbfounded expression.

"Wha- what do you mean?"

Sally rolled her eyes overdramatically.

"Come on, I know there's a tension between you guys and has been for two weeks now, and I know it has something to do with you "_not liking him anymore"_. I'm still waiting for you to tell me about it!"

Cindy swallowed a small lump, letting her eyes wash over the crowded hallway as if searching for an escape.

"I told you," she tried, her gaze returning to Sally. "He's not interested in me and there's no point in me chasing him."

Sally snorted, shaking her head but not letting her hard gaze off Cindy.

"Yeah I also know that's bullshit. _Come on_, I'm your best friend," she pled, leaning in a bit closer and uncrossing her arms. "Spill the beans!"

Cindy glared at her for a moment but she knew her friend well enough to know that she wouldn't give up until she had gotten her answers.

"Okay okay," she sighed and leaned against the wall, burying her hands in her pockets as she gave Sally a serious look. "But you have to promise not to tell anyone, especially not Ned or I'm never gonna hear the end of this."

"Yes!" Sally hissed and tied a fist in success. "Let's go to the library, it should be fairly empty. Wait, did you say material arts?"

* * *

"Okay, so Peter" Cindy began.

They were seated on the floor in the "_ancient languages"_ section munching on Sally's chips and Cindy had just finished filling her in on why exactly she was gonna take defence classes. Sick of keeping secrets she had kept it as close to the truth as possible:

She wanted to gain better control of her body and exercise more.

What she did leave out, however, was that she needed better control in order to rein her goddamn spider-powers.

"Yeah, _Peter_." Gosh, Sally had really waited for this hadn't she?

"Remember last monday during lunch how you needed to use the restroom so I went ahead and took a table for us?" Sally thought for a second but nodded. "Well, I saw Ned and Peter sitting by themselves and thought that we should join them, since the two of you had started getting along so well."

Sally snorted and crossed her arms.

"Yeah, well," she didn't really know how to retort it and it upset her even more, leaving her with a wordless grunt. Cindy waved her hand softly to track the focus back to her.

"Anyhow, when I walked up to them I overheard them talk about us-"

"Us?" a surprised Sally chipped in.

"-well, _me_ really, and I heard Peter say a bunch of stuff about him not being interested in me, that I wasn't…" she stopped herself, faking a few seconds to really think through how she should put it. She wasn't really keen on ruining Sally's friendship with Ned over a boy. "He likes Liz, not me. He said it straight out."

She shrugged.

"So?" Sally regarded her with a curious expression, her eyes slightly narrowed. Cindy frowned at her, placing another chips on her tongue.

""_So"_ what? He's literally told me he's not interested in me."

"But he didn't know he told you," her friend pointed out with a meaningful look.

A flare of anger sparked to life inside her.

"So, what? You think it would have been any differently if he knew I was standing behind him? Yeah I get that too – he's a Midtown Tech student, he's not stupid!" she snapped.

She could tell Sally was really trying her best not to roll her eyes but eventually she gave in to it.

"We'll you go here and you're a complete idiot so why not?" That stunned Cindy for a moment and she just blinked at her friend, who was eying her with a meaningful glare. "I _mean_, just because he said something doesn't mean he really thinks so."

Cindy snorted as she crossed her arms, sticking her chin out.

"So you think I should be _that_ girl who stalks people?" she hissed. "That's just creepy."

"Geez Cin," Sally buried her head in her hands, "you'll literally be the death of me."

She waited for a boy to pass before continuing.

"Of course he has the right to like Liz if he wants to, and _no_, you're not gonna stalk him or be a creep. I'm just saying, Liz's a junior. She's pretty and smart and next year she's going to uni – do you really think she's gonna get together with a freshman her last year of high school?"

Cindy opened her mouth argue but stopped herself as she really thought about it.

She herself wouldn't want to get involved with someone two years younger, and Liz was kind – almost too much for her own good – but she probably had the same idea of a relationship. And she _was_ going to college next fall which meant that she probably didn't want to get involved with anyone.

She hated it when Sally was right.

"You've got a point," she pouted, looking away, "but I'm still not interested in him, I've got better things to do than chase after boys."

"Like _what_?" Sally laughed vividly and Cindy felt her face go red. She shoved a pointy elbow of hers into Sally's side to stop her mocking. "Ow!"

"Sorry!" she spluttered, completely forgetting about her super-strength and thanking God that she hadn't broken her rib or something.

They laughed about it for a bit, feeling the tension between them starting to wear off as they both leaned against each other.

"You really think Peter wouldn't tell Ned what he really thinks?" she asked after a while, her cheek resting against Sally's shoulder. The question had bugged her for a while now and it felt nice getting it out in the open. "I mean, he's his best friend."

Sally pondered it for a moment, pursing her lips.

"Honestly? – yeah I think so. I mean, maybe they don't tell each other everything like we do," a cold stone of guilt appeared in Cindy's gut, "or maybe he doesn't just know what he really feels. You've done pretty dumb shit being completely blinded by your crush on him, so why can't his crush on Liz do the same?"

Cindy hummed, closing her eyes. It was really nice to have Sally by her side to give her new a perspective and get her feet back on the ground.

"Enough about me and Pete. Now, what about you and Ned?" she mused, raising a curious brow even though her friend couldn't see her face. She felt Sally's body tense a bit and she straightened herself to look at her. And because her cheek was starting to hurt.

"What about him?" she grunted. She deliberately didn't cross her arms but Cindy knew her well enough to realize that she had hit a nerve.

"You guys have started hanging out an awful lot lately," she teased with a shrug. Now Sally looked genuinely pissed.

"What are you getting at, _sailor_?"

"Well, I'm just saying that the topic "_crushes"_ perhaps doesn't limit to just me anymore," she sniggered and started laughing loudly as she received a hard punch to her shoulder.

"_Sch!"_ an elderly woman hushed at them before continuing down the rows, which only caused her to giggle more.

"It's not like that," Sally stated and played with Cindy's hair, but she could tell there was something in her voice that said the opposite. "We're just friends."

"Yeah yeah," she smiled. It was time to leave it alone.

The hour went by quickly as the girls giggled their ears off before heading to lunch, deciding to have tacos and sit all by themselves – a little quality time that they truly deserved – before continuing through physics.

"So, have you and Ned started reading up on Shakespeare yet?" Cindy questioned as they headed toward the english classroom.

"Um no, not really. We haven't gotten the assignment yet," she pointed out in response, quirking a brow in Cindy's direction.

"Oh, yeah, right." She cleared her throat a little and scratched at the back of her neck. Not everyone was as eager to finish their homeworks as soon as possible like her and Peter.

Speaking of which, she still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that he "_forgot"_ the homework for today's class and she wondered if he actually had managed to write a whole analysis on two poems in a single night.

As they entered the classroom Cindy saw that their poems were still pinned to the wall and she made a mental note to rip hers off later when no one was seeing.

Peter was already in his seat, tapping his foot as he looked at the empty board with a bored expression on his face. He didn't look like he'd gotten much sleep.

"Hey," she greeted unsurely as she settled down in the seat next to him with her backpack in her lap. He had saved her life last evening, how do you pick up conversation after that?

He looked up at her and for a moment, looking into his droopy chocolatey eyes, she was back in his arms, one of his hands wrapped around her wrist and the other on the small of her back, their noses inches apart.

She swallowed a dry lump and she had to look down, busying herself by digging up the right notebook as he greeted her back.

"About yesterday," she began but didn't get to continue.

"I got pumped up on adrenaline. You know, it enhances reflexes and such," he blurted confidently with a wry smile. However, there was a tension around his eyes that prevented it from reaching them. "I looked it up last night."

"Yeah, I suppose," she mumbled back and placed her bag on the ground beside her, peering over at him with curious eyes. "Did you manage to finish the analysis?"

Peter seemed to relax somewhat and his shoulders dropped slightly as he exhaled, nodding his head to the side.

"Never missed a due date," he smiled as he waved a few clipped pages in front of him. Cindy rolled her eyes.

"Why am I not surprised?" she asked dryly, but there was a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "You look like you've been up all night," she stated gently.

He scratched at the back of his head as he made a grimache.

"You can tell, huh?"

She snorted in reply, offering him a reassuring smile.

"I'm sure it's just because it's the last class of the day. But you're coming to rehearsals, right?" Regionals were just in a few weeks and she was fairly sure Olivia would make them pay if they didn't show up, especially Pete since he had already missed one practise.

His face dropped slightly as his eyes widened a little, something he quickly wiped off his face as he looked down at the white pages in front of him, scribbling down the date of the day in the corner.

"Yeah, 'course." He frowned a little, like it was an odd question of her to ask.

"Don't tell me you "_forgot"_ about that too?" Cindy pressed, raising a brow.

"What?" his head snapped at her with a playful frown. "No, I didn't. I just, I–"

"Afternoon class," Mr. Herman interrupted him and dropped a few books on his table in the front of the classroom. Cindy didn't need to squint in order to see that it was various novels of Shakespeare's plays – Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The merchant of venice.

"Today I will introduce you to your assignment for the coming few weeks. This is a major factor of your grade so listen up," he continued and tapped at his ear with his index finger. "You and your partner are going to do a comparative analysis of two of Shakespeare's plays and compare their original story to a filmatization, a play, a book, or similar. You will have four weeks to gather your material and then present your result to the whole class."

Cindy's gut twisted at these words, as she knew many other did as well. She hated talking in front of people and her hands already started to feel clammy.

"Now, you will have to do this outside of school as our lessons will focus on digging deeper into the history and life of the man himself. We'll watch the filmatization of '_Macbeth'_ next week," a few girls around the class squealed in excitement at getting to watch Michael Fassbender on schooltime, but Mr. Herman quickly popped their bubble, "the _1971_ adaptation, and together analyze it so you get a better understanding of what I want out of you.

"We've got this in a bag," Peter whispered confidently in her ear as the hairs in her neck tingled.

"It's up to you how you arrange your time to work on this," the teacher raised his hands into the air with a shrug. "I will not be giving out extra time, so I urge you to start as soon as possible."

The rest of the lesson was mostly Mr. Herman going on and on about his crush on the poet and fairly quickly explaining the plot of his more famous works. Before the bell rang – at which Cindy nearly jumped to the roof at – he collected everyone's homework and instructed the students to read up on the Macbeth story until monday.

"You guys know what you're going to write about yet?" Sally asked as the four teens met up outside the classroom and headed toward their lockers and the girl couldn't hide the note of contemptment in her voice. This time it was Cindy's turn to quirk her brow.

"Uh, no. Do you guys?" she asked amused.

Ned and Sally shared a knowing look and her friend shrugged with a smile as she turned toward her and Peter again.

"We think we will compare '_The lion king'_ to '_Hamlet'_."

"No way, that's awesome," Peter burst out, his voice filled with excitement.

"It was Ned's idea, actually," Sally revealed and Cindy couldn't help the clear laugh from bubbling up her throat.

"_Ned_, I didn't know you were such a Disney enthusiast," she winked and noticed Pether's mouth twitch. Given the fact that they had been best friends since the beginning of middle school, this was clearly something he was familiar with.

Ned's face flushed a bit as he began to stutter.

"What, uh, _no_," he began, "I don't know what you're talking about."

However, he did not convince the two girls who in sync tilted their heads backwards and laughed.

'_This'_, Cindy thought, '_This is how it's supposed to be.'_

No girl-chase-boy drama, no stupid danger instincts that told her to dodge, just four regular teenagers that joked as they went down the hallway together.

"Hey, don't you guys have practise now?" Ned suddenly asked, his eyes moving between the girl and the boy. Cindy nodded as she corrected her long ponytail.

"Yeah, but there's no stress," she eyed Peter. "At least not for me," she smirked and opened her locker, shoving in her whole bag before retrieving the notepad she used for their rehearsals.

"It was just one time," he argued and made a gesture with his hand to empathize his point but there was a smile on his lips. "Liv's not gonna fire me from the team just because I missed one practice."

"'_Liv'_?" Cindy looked up and her brows pinched together. "Since when do you call her '_Liv'_?"

Peter shrugged, closing his locker and leaning against it.

"People call her '_Liv'_," he muttered but she just rolled her eyes.

Someone cleared their throat and when Cindy looked up she saw Sally watching her with an amused smirk before nodding her head in the direction of the exit.

"Well, have fun you two. Good luck, I guess," she greeted and poked Ned in the ribs. The boy jumped with a gasp. "Should we get going on our assignment maybe? It would be nice to finish it before Jobs and Wozniak for once."

Cindy stuck her tongue out at her playfully and was just about to say something in retort as Peter beat her to it.

"Come on, Cin, we're gonna be late."

She turned around and regarded him, speechless. His eyes were warm and his smile soft as he held onto the strap of his backpack, casually slung over one of his shoulders. It was the first time he used her nickname.

"And don't worry, we're gonna beat them so good they won't know what hit them," he continued with a grin

She pulled herself out of the trance and stuck her nose high into the air as she joined him to the auditorium.

"Obviously," she shrugged confidently, clasping the notebook tighter to her chest.

* * *

Cindy wrapped her coat a little closer around her as a chilly breeze washed over the street.

She was on her way home from the material arts class, which she to her surprise had enjoyed more than she expected. Turns out sports become a lot more fun when you're strong and fast.

However, she was really tired after the day she'd had: school, decathlon practice – during which Olivia had really given them a run for their money and Peter had stared at Liz with a goofy smile for the whole hour – which had been followed by her cello lesson, and, to top it all off, she had been throwing guys to the ground for the past hour and a half.

Or well, not really though.

She knew that she couldn't just use her strength recklessly or people would start to figure out there was something strange about her. No, she had to be careful not to expose herself.

That being said, it was really fun to throw guys to the ground for an hour and a half.

This was really something she was going to continue doing and she just prayed that her parents wouldn't start asking too many questions about it and her asthma.

Last night when she'd told them that she was going to try out a beginner's class they had instantly questioned her health, something she had brushed off by saying that the spray worked better than it had and that it must be something about her "_body developing"_.

At that point they stopped asking questions and her mother had let her know that she could talk to her about _anything_ – no matter how embarrassing it was – and her father had run off to answer a "_phone call"_.

Worked like a charm.

"Sorry," a man mumbled as he bumped into her at a corner. It was dark outside and despite the lamps lighting up the neighbourhood it felt a bit unnerving to the way home from the train station all by herself.

Something that did lift her spirits however was fooling around with her webs, shooting it between her fingers and practicing her aim on glass bottles and such that had been left on the sidewalk. One of her favorite things was to play with it in her fingers, feeling the soft strings against her skin.

It really did feel like genuine silk and she was almost tempted to try and make a real shirt out of it.

Almost.

When her fingers got a little cold she shoved them deep into her pockets and quickened her pace a little. Home was still a few blocks away so freezing wasn't really an option.

Losing herself in her mind she automatically followed a blonde woman in front of her as she turned a corner. The clicking noise of her heels was so loud she could have followed her with her eyes closed if she wanted to.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she stopped underneath a broken streetlight. The light from the screen all but blinded her sensitive eyes and she dimmed it down.

"_Where are you? Dinner's ready,"_ her dad had written.

"_Home soon,"_ she typed quickly before shoving it back down. Her brother's practise had finished about forty minutes earlier, meaning that her parents hadn't really felt like going back to get her too.

Cindy's neck tingled vividly and her head snapped up just in time to see the blonde ahead of her getting pulled into an alleyway by a person so tall and bulky it had to be a man.

Her gut dropped and her senses dialed up to max and her heart beat so hard it pounded in her ears. Her instincts forced her to press against the wall as she peeked in the direction of the alley.

She had to get out of there and get to safety, who knew what the guy's motive was? He could be really dangerous.

She turned around and readied herself to run away to a deli store she knew wasn't too far away but stopped mid-step.

That woman was still back there.

Cindy gulped, torn between two decisions – either go and get help, _real_ help, but risk the woman being seriously harmed before they got back, or turn around and help her herself.

A muffled gasp was all it took for her to turn on the spot and jog quietly toward the alley, dropping her back somewhere on the ground.

She pressed her back against the bricks as she peeked into the alley but all she saw was some dumpsters, although some muffled noises revealed it wasn't empty.

Slowly she slinked forwards, careful not to make a sound. She didn't need to worry however, she was as light on her feet as a cat.

"I swear to God, if you as much as make a sound I will slit your guts open," a deep voice threatened and she was positive it belonged to the man she had gotten a glimpse of earlier.

She glanced out from behind a dumpster and found the woman pressed against a wall, one of the man's hands lirked around her throat as the other one pressed a knife at just below her collar bone. He turned the hilt smoothly in his hand so that the edge of the knife pressed against an exposed strap of her shirt, slicing right through it, and the woman whimpered.

She was quite tall, probably not older than thirty, and her sun kissed face revealed she had recently gotten back from a vacation. The man was however a whole head taller than her, pushing at six feet, with a buzz cut.

"Hush now," he cooed softly, "you want to keep that pretty little face of yours pretty, don't you?"

Cindy's heart raced even faster than it had when she'd discovered her abilities and she quickly leaned backwards so she was out of sight, breathing heavily.

What the heck was she doing here? She couldn't help her, she was just a fourteen year old kid who until recently stumbled on her feet every time she walked!

"I have to get help," she breathed quietly, nodding to herself as she scrambled to her feet, still dodging to avoid being seen.

"_He–_!" the woman screamed heartbreakingly but the man stopped her before she could finish.

Cindy's danger-sense was going out of its mind, and balancing on the balls of her feet – her mind yelling at her to get as far away as possible – she made a decision.

Dropping her coat to the ground she stood in her training clothes – dark pants with an equally dark long-sleeved shirt that was white on the front and had two white lines continuing down the arms – and pulled the red headband from her hair down over her nose and mouth, using it as a very improvised way of covering her identity.

With her fists tied in determination she took a step forward, exposing herself to the two adults.

The woman's panic-struck eyes instantly fell on her and Cindy noticed that her shirt had been even more torn.

"Let her go," she demanded, her voice as deep as it could go.

The man jumped a little and he snapped around, one hand still on the woman's neck while the other pointed the knife at Cindy. She had clearly startled him and he had a most confused expression on his face at the small girl in front of him.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" he barked and narrowed his eyes.

"Let her go," she repeated through clenched teeth, shifting her weight a little.

The man – she decided to call him Dick, for obvious reasons – clenched his jaw as he looked between her and the woman in his grip before finally sneering at her.

"You should have just kept walking," Dick said with raised brows before smacking the woman's head hard against the wall behind her and taking quick steps toward Cindy.

Her body tingled and before she knew it she had jumped ten feet into the air and clung to the railing of a fire escape.

Usually she loathed her instinct and that they constantly told her what to do, but right now she couldn't be happier about them.

Dick stared at her with a shocked expression.

"What the hell was tha–" he began and raised his knife but before he could finnish, Cindy shot a few strings of web at it and with a pull, it flew straight into her hand. Deciding it would be best to keep it out of his reach she quickly webbed it against the wall before smoothly jumping down to the ground.

"Don't bring a knife to a fist fight, or what do you say?" she joked, sending another round of webs at him, this time aimed at his feet.

"Is this shit coming out of you?" he breathed with a disgusted grimace as he looked down at his feet and pulled, although it wouldn't bulge. She placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head.

"Didn't your mom ever teach you not to be a jerk?"

Without missing a beat the man pulled out another, smaller knife from the pocket of his coat and sliced through the webbing, jumping at Cindy with a growl.

She leaned backwards smoothly and dodged the silvery knife coming at her before pushing him into a dumpster. He fell to the ground, seemingly unconscious, and left a noticeable dent in the metal.

Cindy exhaled and relaxed somewhat. She was alright, she was completely fine.

Speaking of completely fine…

She turned around and found the woman slumped on the ground, her back pressed against the wall and her scared eyes were locked on Cindy. Her throat must have still hurt from Dick's grip because both of her hands were gently pressed against it and her breathing was shallow.

She took a few gentle steps forward, correcting the headband covering her nose and lips. She was just about to open her mouth to ask if she was alright as her neck started tingling like crazy.

Allowing her instincts to guide her she ducked under a right hook and spun around on the ground. Dick had recovered quickly and was currently staring at her with pure rage shining in his eyes.

"Oh boy," she gulped.

She quickly slid to the side to avoid his hands from gripping her, but despite how great her instincts were at guiding her, it really didn't seem to consider her long hair as part of the equation.

"Ow!" she yelped as he dragged her backwards and her hands instinctively went up to her head. "Hey no fair – you don't have any I can pull!"

It would have been an over-exaggeration to say that he lifted her up by her hair, but that was what it felt like. For a second she locked eyes with the huge guy in front of her. They were a soft hazel color but as he grinned they seemed to grow darker.

"Now I've got you, you little–"

Cindy punched him straight in the nose and he released his grip instantly as he backed a few feet, his hands clasped against his face.

Without really thinking she kicked him hard in the side, just like she had been practising for the past hour, and he went flying into the wall. The web shot from her fingers without hesitation and just a moment later the man was completely webbed up against the wall – mummy-style.

He stared at her like he had seen a ghost.

"You– you… _freak_!" he gasped and she glared at him.

"Yeah, _I'm_ the freak here," she snorted dryly before turning to the woman again.

She had managed to scramble to her feet and was currently leaning one hand on the edge of a metal ladder to steady herself while the other was still on her throat. The poor thing looked like she had been scared half to death, even though it was Cindy who had actually had a real-life alley fight with a crook.

"Hey, are you alright?" the teenager asked softly, stopping a few feet away to give the girl some space.

"Ye– yeah," she croaked and moved her teary eyes to the guy glued to the wall. A sob passed over her lips as she covered her mouth with her hand, looking back at Cindy. "Thank you, thank you so much!"

Cindy blushed a little, looking down at the ground with a modest smile on her lips as she shrugged.

"Nah, don't mention it," she brushed off and played with a few strings of soft web that was left in her hand.

"Who," the girl began but had to take a deep calming breath before continuing. "Who are you?"

"Eh…" Cindy found herself completely speechless – what the heck would she answer to that? "Uh, I'm…" her brain couldn't seem to focus on anything other than the silky strings in her hand. "I'm silky… _Silk_! Call me Silk."

She cringed a little at the name and the woman seemed about just as confused but nodded.

"_Silk_, thank you," she repeated one last time.

"Um, just a suggestion, but I really think you should call the cops about now," Cindy replied, scratching at the back of her neck as she quickly started backing out of the alley.

When she came to the coat that she'd left lying on the ground she quickly spun around and picked it up in a smooth motion before doing the same with her backpack and hurtling down the street, all but throwing her things on.

What.

Had.

Just.

Happened.

Cindy had fought a grown ass man in a dark alleyway with knives coming at her, and she had come out as the _victor_, most likely saving a woman's life in the process.

A warm feeling spread through her body along with another round of adrenaline and for the first time in her life she understood why people could talk themselves into jumping out of planes and stuff – this high was really neat.

* * *

**Looks like she's finally gotten a taste of what it feels like to be a hero ;) Excited to see where she's doing next?**

**Don't forget to check out the cast/playlist and – as always – leave your pretty thoughts behind!**

_**Until next time x**_


	10. Chapter 9

**This chapter feels a lot shorter than it actually is. Well well. We'll get some Cindy/Sally, some Silk action (again), and we'll finally get to know the antagonist of this book! Casting choice will be posted in a ay or two :P ALSO, I've added a converter for measurements in the summary-chapter.**

**Also, I'm gonna start doing "incorrect quotes" in the end of each chapter, a concept I've completely stolen off ****_scrapingskies_****. I really like it and I think it'll be fun. Don't forget to check out the playlist!**

**HorrorFan13:** oooh yess.

**AccelBreaker:** So far I've got two books planned, the second one focusing on the Homecoming arc.

**Trey Alexander:** Aah THANKS for the long review, it made me really happy and I love that you wanted to share your thoughts with me :) We'll get a closer glimpse into Ben's part in about two chapters (I think?) but I've got it covered an I'll explain further when we get there.

**Krakengirl:** Hi! First off, _yes,_ they do get bitten by the same spider and according to the comics their powers differ a little from each other – Peter's a bit stronger than her, Cindy's spidey-sense is a bit of a mess, and she can indeed produce her own web from her hands. When it comes to Civil War, I haven't really decided yet. I'd love for her to be with them, but not if it creates an unnatural, forced feeling so we'll see when we get there :)

**Also many thanks to AppropriateLlama, Laurel, Celgress, PrettyRecklessLaura, .2019, SnuffleTruff, and Liltorgy for leaving reviews as well as a bunch of other people for following/favoriting! After barely two months this story is on place #15 in the OC + Peter Parker tag, sorting by followers, which is CRAZY AMAZING.**

* * *

"–_and the new station will be in place later this year,"_ a woman on the news finished and glanced down at her notes.

"This Macbeth lady is so strange," Sally sighed and shook her head.

They were seated at the dining table at Sally's family's apartment in Lenox Hill, the terrific view of Central Park visible through the window, although the darkness of the evening caused their reflections to hide it.

Sally's parents had just gotten home from work and were currently prepping dinner in the kitchen. Although they almost always were busy with their jobs they were really nice people, and very down to earth to be living in the upper Manhattan.

Heck, they even remembered the names of all of Cindy's aunts.

"I mean, it's great that she's ambitious and all, but she's a bit joker-ish, don't you think? Cindy?"

Cindy's eyes were currently glued to the TV in the corner of the room, her gaze fixed on the female news anchor while her heart had begun skipping beats.

"_Last evening a woman reported being assaulted by a man in his late thirties. According to the police department, the man was found on the crime scene tied up against the wall by an unknown substance."_

"What the–" Sally commented and Cindy hushed her with a wave of her hand.

"_The NYPD have not yet given a statement to the situation but the young woman who called in, Sarah Johnson, explains her own version of the story."_

There was a short pause as the camera changed to the street Cindy had been on last and the woman she now knew as Sarah Johnson. Her eyes were framed by pink-ish skin and her eyes were a bit glassy as she looked at the man hidden next to the camera.

"Geez, that's just two streets from your place!" Sally breathed and despite facing the other way, Cindy knew her friend had a concerned frown on her face.

"Yeah," she hummed absentmindedly in reply.

She hadn't really considered beating up a guy would get her on the news and her heart was currently beating hard in fear that her secret identity had been compromised.

"_Miss Johnson, please describe the events that went down earlier tonight,"_ the man from behind the camera inquired, aiming a microphone at her face.

She blinked a few times and drew back some blonde hair behind her ear.

"_I– I was on my way home from work,"_ she began and although her voice was steady it was obvious that she still was in shock. "_It was around seven p.m. and I was alone on the street, then someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me into the alley, he had a knife."_

She gave a brave smile but the invisible reporter continued to press her.

"_And what happened next?"_

Wrinkles appeared on Sarah Johnson's forehead as she tried to find the right words.

"_A– Actually this woman appeared – no, girl,"_ she corrected while nodding quickly, "_she was dressed in black and white, and had a red scarf over her mouth. She called herself _"Silk"_."_

Cindy gulped and jumped a little as Sally scoffed.

"What kind of name is that?" she mocked while chewing at the end of her pencil but Cindy ignored her.

"_She fought with him, and she had this…"_ the woman Cindy had saved continued, lifting her hands up in front of her face in a gesture, "_she shot this… _web _from her hands!"_

A cold stone appeared in Cindy's gut and the reporter chuckled a little.

"_So, she had a device that could shoot this substance?"_ the reporter continued amused and Sarah shook her head firmly.

"_No, it came out of her fingers,"_ she declared through a slightly clenched jaw, her eyes wide as if she couldn't believe what she had just seen.

"_And this substance, it's the same that the police found?"_

She nodded.

The camera turned and landed on the reporter himself, who had an annoyingly smug smile on his face that went perfectly with his well-styled hair.

"_You heard it here first, New York, looks like Queens' gotten its own saviour in disguise."_

The camera cut back to the lady in the studio and Cindy finally relaxed a little.

No one knew it was her.

"That's sick," Sally said while shaking her head in disapprovement, her eyes falling back on the pages in front of her. "So creepy that there's people out there who can do things like that."

"Silk?" Cindy asked with a brow quirked in confusion and her friend hummed in affirmation. "It's–," she snorted while scribbling down some notes on a paper, "I mean, isn't it nice that she helped her out? What would have happened if she hadn't been there?"

Sally heard the hidden tone of annoyance in her voice and looked up with a questioning frown. She shrugged and put down her pencil while resting her chin in her hand.

"For God's sake Cin, your mom works at a newspaper – you should know there's always more to a story than they tell us." She threw her hands up in the air, "For all we know, she could be the bad guy."

Cindy's jaw clenched slightly and the grip around her pencil tightened.

"So, Captain America can drop a whole aircraft on a building but I–" she quickly realized her mistake, "when I think it's good that someone webbed a criminal up against the wall _I'm_ completely off my rocker?"

Sally's eyes narrowed slightly as she tried to figure out why her friend had gotten so upset about it but ended up shrugging, feeling too tired to start an argument.

"Have it your way then," she mumbled and frowned at her pages. "Now, was Shakespeare on crack when he wrote this stuff? I really don't get it."

"I kind of like it," Cindy shrugged, glad that the subject had changed. "I agree that it's strange, but I like it."

Sally closed her laptop with a '_smack'_ and massaged her temples as she hummed to herself.

"Can we please just call it a day and watch an episode of Grey's instead?" she pled and looked up at Cindy, who nodded with a wide grin.

"Yeah."

They quickly tucked away their homework and snuggled up in the couch together, throwing a blanket over themselves while watching the show with excitement until Sally's dad called from the kitchen.

"Sal, Cindy, dinner's ready!"

The two girls helped set the dining table and carry out the bowls of various vegetables – saturdays were taco nights at the Avrils – and sitting down alongside Sally's parents.

"So, how's school treating you guys?" Sally's dad asked while chewing on his food.

"Fine," Sally replied with an unimpressed expression on her face as she reached for the salsa. "I got an A on a calculus test this week."

"That's great, honey," her mom gushed, her lips tugging into a wide smile. "What about you, Cindy? How are you doing?"

"She beat me with two points," Sally snorted before Cindy had even opened her mouth.

"That's great," the woman replied, looking between the two girls. "Any assignments coming up?"

"Actually," Cindy chipped in before Sally managed to swallow her mouthful of tacos, "we're gonna write an analysis on Shakespeare. Compare original plays to a later adaptations."

"Oh, that's nice. We should go see one of his play's sometime, I'll make sure to check which ones are available," Sally's dad nodded. "Anyone certain the two of you have to write about?"

"Well," Cindy began a bit hesitantly, looking at her friend.

"Actually, we're not writing together," Sally mumbled while reaching for another tortilla.

The adults looked at the two girls in front of them with surprise.

They had been friends since forever and almost always did their projects and assignments together.

"We didn't get to pick," Sally explained dryly and her parents nodded.

"Who are you with, then?" her dad asked curiously before offering Cindy another round of tortillas.

She noticed her friend's cheeks turning ever so slightly pink, although she brushed it off with a shrug.

"I'm with a guy called Ned. Leeds. I think I've mentioned him sometime, and Cindy's with Peter Parker."

"Ah," her parents recognized. They had overheard the girls chatting about "_Peter Parker"_ multiple times over the years but this "_Ned"_ was new.

"Is that the boy you're always texting with?" her mother asked with a wide smile and now Sally's face turned bright red.

"No it's not! I mean, I'm not texting with some boy," she spluttered. "I'm texting with Cindy!"

"You don't smile like that when you're texting with Cindy," her mom giggled, pointing a fork in her daughter's direction, and Cindy had to cover her smile with her hand. Sally noticed and instantly snapped her her head at Cindy.

"_What?"_ Cindy mouthed before returning her focus to her taco.

"Anyhow," Mrs. Avril continued, changing the subject. "Cindy, are you staying for the night?"

She shook her head with a respectful smile.

"Sorry, but no. I promised my parents that I'd be home by seven," she lied and shoved away the feeling of guilt.

She really hated having to lie to people. Especially nice people.

"Oh, okay then," she smiled back.

They finished up and Cindy thanked for the meal before throwing her backpack over her shoulder and headed for the door.

"It was nice seeing you, tell your parents we said "_hi"_," Sally's dad called from the kitchen and Cindy rolled her eyes.

"They've known you guys for ten years, they thank you for saying "_hi"_ before I've even gotten through the door," she joked lightheartedly. "And thanks for dinner!"

The two teens made their way to the hall in silence, Sally accompanying her friend.

She leaned against the wall and watched Cindy – who was busy throwing her coat on – with a puzzled expression.

"Cin," she began carefully and the girl in question looked up. "You okay?"

"What?" she snorted in confusion, a smile on her lips as she corrected her ponytail. "Yeah I'm fine. Why?"

Sally eyed her doubtfully.

"Whatever you say," she sighed and shook her head. "See you monday?"

"See you monday," Cindy confirmed and wrapped her arms around her friend before heading out the front door and into the small corridor – there was only one other apartment on this floor.

Upon hearing the door shut close behind her she quickly snatched her phone out of her pocket and opened her text messages.

"_I'll be home in about 2 hrs,"_ she wrote to her dad and pressed the '_send'_ button before sprinting past the elevator and toward the fire escape.

With ease she took the steps in two's as she ran upwards toward the rooftop, but since Sally's family lived on one of the higher levels it wasn't that far.

"Let's do this!" she encouraged herself as she pulled off the bag from her back and all but threw her coat off. Since the spring was still rather chilly she hurried while changing into the training clothes she'd had last night, pulling her red headband over her nose and mouth.

It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do for now.

She had a quick debate with herself about whether she should keep her ponytail or not, but since she figured she would be more recognizable with it – since she literally _always_ wore it – she decided to lose it.

Tucking her coat down into her bag she took a few deep breaths.

"It's okay, you're just gonna check out the neighbourhood, see if some poor gal's in trouble."

You see, that was the sole reason Cindy was out again as '_Silk'_.

After the event of last evening she hadn't been able to sleep, but instead lay awake endlessly going over something she'd realized:

If she hadn't been there that day, that woman would have been badly hurt, maybe even killed.

And, there were a bunch of lonely women and girls walking the streets of the city and lots of people with the intentions of hurting them.

But all of that could disappear if Cindy did what she had done last night – help them.

She wasn't Iron Man or Captain America or any other superhero for that matter, she was just a girl looking out for others that unlike her _didn't_ have enhanced strength.

And, well, spiderweb.

However, to avoid ending up on the news again she would have to keep her distance or otherwise _Silk_ would be toast before she knew it.

"Come on, Cindy, you've got this" she breathed as she nervously approached the edge of the building, glancing down at the street hundreds of feet below her. The cars looked like ants.

Gently, she stretched her fingers before sending a string of web across the space between her and the building across the street, curious to see how far it would go.

It stuck to the window of an apartment a little below where she had aimed, but it would have to do.

Despite her enhanced abilities she couldn't jump _that_ far, which meant she would have to think outside the box.

In this case, that meant going all Tarzan in Manhattan.

Without much further ado, she took a step out into the air and held on to the string of web for dear life.

Cindy had dreamt of flying a handful of times in her life, but it had been nothing like this.

A ticklish feeling of panic mixed with joy spread through her whole body, just like when you're riding a rollercoaster, and instead of feeling dizzy it was like her senses sharpened to max.

Without realizing it she had sent out another string of web to another building just in time to avoid smacking headfirst into the skyscraper.

She was actually doing it, swinging through the city with ease and swiftness.

Nothing could stop her now!

"Aghh!" she cried as a few doves flew into her and while waving frantically with her arms she lost control and dropped toward the ground. "Bad thing, this is a bad thing!"

The wind made her eyes tear up and her heartbeat quickened while she swore under her breath as she saw the street coming towards her.

"Don't panic, don't panic!" she rambled but as the ground got closer and closer she started screaming. "Too late, too late!"

Seconds before she smashed against the concrete like a bug to a car window her arms tingled and she rolled to the side and stretched her arms, catching the horizontal part of a street lamp and managed to swing herself on top of it like a gymnast.

"Woah, that was scary!" she panted, staring down at her hands.

Before any of the cars could notice her she swung into an alley, keeping herself out of sight.

And more importantly – out of the news.

* * *

"I've got you," Cindy mused with a wicked smile on her lips.

On the small street below her, hardly lit up by any light at all, was a little girl, around nine or ten years old judging by her pigtails.

She was walking all by herself and Cindy could tell by her tense shoulders and the way she held on to the straps of her backpack that she was scared.

What was more important, however, was the slender man walking in her footsteps, only thirty feet behind.

Careful not to make a sound, Cindy gently climbed down the wall and landed on a small balcony where the windows had been blocked with cardboard from the inside.

"Yeah, that's it," she whispered, waiting for the right moment, "just a little bit further."

As the tall man passed some bins she aimed her fingers at him and shot a load of web at him, gluing him to the metal bins behind him.

As two lids fell to the ground with a loud, screeching noise the girl turned around with wide eyes and upon seeing the man that had stalked her she screamed and ran off.

The guy swore something that rhymed with "_duck"_ before – in a very failing attempt – trying to rip himself off the trash cans.

While he was busy doing just that, Cindy attached a string to the railing of the balcony and lowered herself toward the ground headfirst, her feet pressed against the string for extra support.

"Don't sweat," she stated casually and the man was so startled he managed to fall backwards along with the metal bins. "It won't loosen up, so I guess you're stuck here until someone finds you," she informed with a tilt of her head.

"Who the fuck are you?" the man panted with eyes wide in confusion.

"I'm Silk, didn't you see me on the news? At least I know _you're_ not gonna tattletail on me. By the way, you stink!" She laughed bubbly and pretended to wipe away a tear. "Get it? Because you're sitting in garbage and you're a terrible person."

"Get me out of here!" he yelled and tried to wiggle himself out of the net but it was all in vain.

Then he did something very unexpected.

In an attempt to kick her – something that didn't even make her flinch since her head was at least four feet above him – some webbing that had gotten stuck on his foot got caught in Cindy's long hair.

She gasped as his legs kicked back down and she dropped to the ground with pain spreading over her head, landing harshly on her back.

As he started kicking more vividly – still calling for help – her hair tugged in different directions and it was hurting like hell.

Rolling over on her side she got a bit better view over the situation and her hands wandered carefully up above her hair until she felt the soft and sticky string.

Grabbing hold of it with both her hands she ripped it apart and rolled to the side, free.

"This is the second time I'm saying this – it's not nice to pull someone's hair _if you don't have any I can pull back_," she barked with annoyance and pressed her palms against her scalp as she made her way down the street.

Two nights out of two, her hair had messed things up for her.

"I should really consider getting a new hairstyle before I don't have anything left," she muttered dryly and jumped onto the wall of a building, climbing her way up.

Glimpsing down at her phone she realized she had been out for nearly two hours and had a missed text from her dad.

"_I'll meet you at the station, tell me when you're getting close."_

She exhaled deeply and rolled her head, feeling the joints in her neck creak. This would have to be the last one for today.

For these past hours she had made sure a few lonely women had made their way home without any trouble, as well as webbing up a guy who stole an elderly lady's purse.

She had made sure to keep her distance and stay out of sight, although she hadn't been quite able to keep herself from that last guy.

"Time to clock out," Cindy sighed with a smile on her lips, proud of herself.

She fell into a quick jog across the rooftop, jumping over an alley-gap and landing on the next one a few stores lower. Her plan was to make her way to the station before Brooklyn Bridge and then text her dad that she was on her way.

It was only a few blocks away so she would be there in no time, since she had made her way all the way down to the East Village.

She hadn't really thought all of this through yet, being Silk and all this… kicking ass?

She still had school and all her activities, she couldn't just give all that up just to do this – right? She had her grades to think of, her family, and her future.

This exciting… _thing_ would always have to come second, it couldn't take over her life.

Cindy sighed, deciding to take that discussion some other day rather than tonight. She was almost by the station anyways – it was only five minutes away – and she would have to change back into her regular clothes.

Balancing on the edge of the roof, her eyes skimmed over the alley below her to find a good spot to re-dress.

Suddenly, her neck and arms tingled slightly as her senses sharpened.

Not very far away from her she heard a man's voice and there was something about it that set off her warning bells.

Carefully, she jumped across the gap of the alley and landed on the opposite building, continuing down a new alley.

"You have another one of those?" a deep voice asked, the roughness in his voice revealing his age. After a few seconds of silence came a reply.

"You already owe me two," another man argued, a hint of irritation in his voice.

Cindy dropped to her knees and peeked over the edge.

Two men, both tall and rather handsome were leaning against a wall, hidden from the street by a large dumpster. They were both dressed in black trousers and dark polo shirts under fancy coats, and the shorter one had a cigarette stuck to the corner of his mouth.

The guy looked to be in his late twenties and was watching his older mate – who was staring down at him with a superior gaze – with hesitation before digging up another cigarette from his pocket.

The taller man leant forwards to light it without as much as a "_thank you"_, as if it was his right to.

These guys didn't look like the textbook creeps Cindy had seen during the past two days, but there was still something off about them. Two clean shaved men in expensive-looking clothes shouldn't be standing in an alleyway hiding behind dumpsters, it was as easy as that.

Cindy moved a bit closer without making a sound.

She had to find out what their deal was, her senses were tingling like crazy so there had to be something going on.

"When are they getting here?" the younger one muttered impatiently and shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

The taller guy sighed and a beam of smoke escaped over his lips as he rubbed a hand over his forehead.

"Shit," he spat on the ground and she rolled her eyes at the bitterness in his voice. "I'll kill Jerry if he ever assigns you to me again, _newbie_. They'll get here when they get here, you don't mess with them unless you wanna screw up the boss' deal. Got it?"

The younger guy looked a bit baffled but didn't seem to quite catch on.

"What does he even want from Oscorp?" he argued, crossing his arms, and Cindy's heart skipped a beat. Oscorp, where her dad worked – what did these two have to do with them? "Feathered snakes? Wall-climbing turtles? Not really the kind of weapons he's famous for."

Her body stiffened.

Who the heck was he talking about?

"Shut it, moron!" the older guy snapped, clearly beginning to lose his temper. "There's a reason we have a hierarchy in terms of information, you want the whole block to hear?"

He swallowed hard and looked down.

Cindy wrinkled her nose at the smell of the smoke and ignored the instinct of coughing.

"I'm just saying, what does Oscorp have that the boss wants?" the young man pressed on after a minute and she thanked her lucky star that he was asking the questions for her.

The more mature man swore as he threw the cigarette to the ground.

"For christ's sake, Stevens! Gene manipulation – it will change the weapon industry for good. Developing the formulas to fit humans he can make them stronger, faster, able to change their skin – some big people would pay good money for that."

So, they – or their boss, whoever they were – were planning to steal the Oscorps's secret information to be able to genetically modify real people?

A cold stone appeared in her stomach.

People like her.

She had been bit by that spider, it had messed up her DNA and now she could punch a car into the air if she wanted to. Who knew what would happen if some bad people would get their hands on that?

She couldn't let that happen.

"But," the novice continued, "won't they be able to trace it back to him? I mean, Oscorp's way ahead of any other company on the market, it's not hard to connect the dots."

He had a point, Cindy had to agree.

Although she didn't know exactly what "_market"_ they were discussing, it was safe to say that Oscorp was world leading when it came to genetic experiments. If anyone was to publish the same results out of nowhere, people would get suspicious and they would more than likely get to spend a few good years in jail along with a big fine.

"That's why he has a mole, idiot," the older one hissed, his voice slightly louder than before but he quickly calmed down before continuing. "They'll take what they need and make it look like they stole their work from him. He's been working on this for years, when he's done their lawyers will live out the rest of their days in prison, along with that Osborn."

It was as if someone had punched the air out of her lungs and her limbs began to numb.

Her- her dad. They were coming for her dad!

"Idiots," the young man tried with a laugh but just received a hard stare from his collegue.

"Shut up, they're coming now. If you say as much as a word I will have you doing paperwork in the sewers for the rest of your career, got it?"

He nodded slowly and looked down at his shoes.

Cindy wondered what kind of office he was referring to as "_sewers"_ but as her neck tingled and she heard the sound of three pair of feet coming from the street, she dropped it.

As the people turned the corner and stepped into the dim light she laid eyes on two men and a tiny woman.

She was dressed in a white coat that had to be real fur and although the ground was still slippery with ice, her feet were dressed in heels. Blue eyes popped against her light hair and fair skin and judging by her features she had to be scandinavian.

The two tall men who flanked her sides had to be bodyguards and it was clear she was the person the two guys had been waiting for.

"Evening, boys," she greeted but the tone of her voice made it perfectly clear that she wasn't interested in any politeness.

"Miss," man greeted and offered a dashing smile, but her stern eyes didn't as much as flicker.

"Do you have it?" she asked bluntly and Cindy indeed noticed an accent that revealed english wasn't her first language. "Or will I be disappointed like last time?"

"Yes, Miss Lund, we have all the flash drives you asked for. Boss sends his condolences for the… _misunderstanding_ and doubled what you asked for." He reached for a pocket inside his coat and fished out a heavy envelope, which he handed over.

The woman glanced at one of the men beside her, who stepped forward and took it from the other man's hand, before quickly peeking inside and handing it over to the woman, who reopened it with a wry smile on her lips.

"Well well, I have to say – working with the Kingpin has its benefits," she mused before putting it away in an expensive-looking purse.

Cindy froze.

The Kingpin?! That's who she was dealing with?

Everyone knew he was one of the world's greatest dealers, both in the weapon and drug industry, although no one had ever managed to catch him. He was too got at covering his tracks and supposedly had a forest of lawyers that made sure he was always in the safe zone.

No one even knew his real identity.

One of the world's greatest criminals, and he was going to put her dad in jail.

"And the rest?" the woman added impatiently, popping Cindy's bubble.

The older man gave his younger colleague a hard glare and he quickly pulled up a fancy briefcase off the ground.

"He-here Miss," he stuttered, obviously a bit taken by her beauty.

She looked at him like she was about to laugh straight at his face but simply shook her head.

"Let him know that Mr. Parsons will want to see him soon, to establish the conditions before everything is set into motion."

"Of course, miss," the handsome man replied with a nod with his head. "You know where to find us."

She laughed clearly and the man's shoulders tensed a little at the fright of anyone hearing them.

"That does not mean you're easy to get in touch with. However, you are not in a position to be making demands. We will meet at the warehouse as usual," she stated.

Cindy's mind – and heart – was racing.

What warehouse? How the heck was she supposed to find them again?

"Of course," the man replied once again. "Allow us to escort you to your car."

An idea appeared in her head.

The woman stopped him with a raise of her hand.

"I'll be fine, don't bother. It's always a pleasure making business with you…"

"Lewis," he chipped in, his jaw slightly clenched. She gave him a nod and turned on the spot, her two guards following closeby.

Now she had to work fast.

Jumping over the gap of the alley, right over the heads of the two men, she landed silently on the other rooftop and hurried across it, making sure to crouch not to be seen.

She made it to the edge just in time to see the posh woman sliding into the back seat of a silvery mercedes that took off down the otherwise empty street.

F-E-A-9-6-7-7

The letters and numbers of the license plate were safely stored in her memory and it was her only chance to find them again.

Her only chance to figure out what was happening.

Her only chance to keep her dad safe.

* * *

**Finally! A few of you might recognize the Kingpin from Into the spider-verse or from the comics, and I've got a terrific plan for him (and an amazing casting choice). Please let me know your thoughts, and have a few incorrect quotes! (first one's from f.r.i.e.n.d.s.)**

**Cindy [to herself]: Everything's fine, it's just a crush.**

**Peter: *walks by and smiles at her***

**Cindy: I love you.**

**_One more (from Modern Family)!_**

**Cindy: So, dumb guys go for dumb girls.**

**Cindy: And smart guys go for dumb girls.**

**Cindy: What do smart girls get?**

**Sally: Cats, mostly.**

_**And another one cuz it took me so long time to publish this.**_

**Cindy: You know, the word "nun" is just the letter "n" doing a cartwheel.**

**Sally: It's fucking 3 in the morning.**

**_Until next time!_**


	11. Chapter 10

**Aaand FINALLY I'm back again, after too long a wait. I do apologize for the delay, but I do have a good reason for taking a short break. **

**This whole year has just been one really shitty thing after another and I've had to deal with loss and heartbreak on multiple levels. As soon as I've started to feel better something new has blown up and for this whole spring I've just been exhausted. I started writing/publishing this story during a period where I started to feel better again but in the beginning of the summer I pretty much had my heart ripped out, meaning that writing a love story really hasn't been that appealing. HOWEVER, sticks and stones and you eventually feel better, so here we go again! I really like this chapter, it's one of my favorites so far so I hope you guys like it too.**

**SnuffleTruff: **Unfortunately not, sweetie. I'm not that caught up with Matt's story, although it doesn't mean that I won't change my mind in the future!

**Trey Alexander:** Yeah, this is more or less how I reason too. Still, quite a bit to go until then so you never know. Also, see reply above :)

**pottermaniac6:** I'm trying to keep Cindy's outfit as canon as possible, so make sure to check that out! I might give her some upgrades in the future but I'm fairly sure she won't get a mask like Peter's.

**It's late and I'm tired and I'm gonna wake up early tomorrow so I won't reply any more for today, but still a great thanks to PaintingInJune, AddictionProblems21, Daisy54154, K. I. Hernandez, AppropriateLlama, Celgress, Krakengirl, PrettyRecklessLaura, MedicusAestus, and Accelbreaker for reviewing (YOU GUYS MAKE MY DAY) and to every single one of you who's been following/favoriting!**

* * *

A high pitched ringing noise – the school bell she quickly realized – caused Cindy to flinch and almost jump up onto a wall, but she managed to catch herself at the last second. A few students stared at her as she passed them and her cheeks burned as she ignored them as she passed by.

She sighed a shaky breath and drew back a lock of hair that had fallen into her face, tucking it into place behind her ear. It would take forever to get used to her hair not being pulled back into her usual ponytail. Right now it was held back by a scrunchie in a minimal bun, although most of it had fallen out of it and into her face.

Digging her hands deep into her pockets and looking down at her feet – a move that caused her hair to once again fall into her face – Cindy continued onwards toward her locker, where Sally would be waiting for her.

Shit.

She really wasn't ready for this whole act, like everything was normal. Carrying the Silk-secret was enough to have on her plate, but also having to pretend that an infamous drug lord wasn't trying to send her dad to jail for eternity was just too much.

The whole of yesterday had been spent on the floor in her room, staring up into the ceiling and trying to figure this whole mess out. Spoiler alert: she hadn't.

The Kingpin wanted Oscorp's information on gene manipulation and her perfectly sweet dad, who always made waffles for her when she was sick, was going to pay for it. He would spend the rest of his life behind bars and heaven knew if she would even be allowed to see him.

A shiver fled down her spine and she felt the nausea washing over her.

Quickly she turned a corner into a less busy corridor and pressed her back against the wall, closing her eyes and breathing heavily.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit! This was all too much. Why couldn't things just go back to normal? She didn't want to be Silk anymore, why couldn't someone else do it? She was just a fourteen year old girl from Queens, it couldn't be her responsibility to make sure people were okay – right?

And the only thing she had that could be of any help was a stupid license plate that she didn't even know how to track. And, even if she could, there was a pretty low chance that whoever owned it could lead her to the Kingpin. And, even if they could, what the hell was she supposed to do?

"Cindy?" a familiar voice said and her enhanced hearing registered it as if he had called directly into her ear. She jumped a little and opened her eyes, her heart pounding and her head throbbing as the world went a bit blurry.

Ned stared at her warily, a few wrinkles of concern between his brows as his hands were holding onto the straps of his backpack.

"Hey, Ned, sorry didn't see you" she breathed, drawing back yet another strand of hair and smiled, although it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"You okay?" The boy clearly didn't buy it. "You look a bit pale."

"Yeah, no, I'm fine," she shrugged, taking a deep breath before kicking off the wall, even though her mind was still a bit dizzy. "Just didn't sleep very well." He wouldn't stop staring at her hair. "Hey, have you finished the physics homework yet? I could use some help with it."

Now that seemed to get him back on track.

"_You_ need help with homework?" he smiled with a frown, like he couldn't believe it. They had picked up their pace and was heading toward the lockers again. "And you want _my_ help?

Cindy scratched the back of her neck. "Nevermind," she muttered grumpily, increasing the length of her steps.

"No it's fine, I mean, I can help you," Ned blurted, catching up to her by running a few steps.

Truth was that she actually could use his help.

Of course she didn't _need_ help, but her, ehr… _adventures_ this weekend had made her completely forget the schoolwork and she now had to pull four homeworks that were due tomorrow in one night.

"I finished it last week so there's no problem. I just thought you'd ask Sally before me, or Peter," he continued and Cindy looked up with curiosity.

"Peter?"

Sure, Sally would have been the obvious choice and was the one she _intended_ to have asked, but she had needed something to distract Ned with. However, she'd never hung out with Peter one-on-one, something Ned should know since he was best friends with the boy in question. Or maybe boys didn't talk about that?

Ned shrugged as they passed the last corner and opened his mouth to explain, although he didn't get the chance to.

"Cindy Moon what the _fuck_ have you done?" A wide eyed Cindy looked up at a gaping Sally, whose eyes were so big she for a second wondered if they were going to pop out of her head.

"Wha–"

"You cut your fucking hair?" she squeaked, a little too loud for Cindy's ears.

"Yeah." Cindy shuffled past her friend and opened her locker, ignoring Sally's eyes burning at her neck. By now more hair was out of the scrunchie than in it.

Last night she'd made the bold decision to cut it, having her mother (after a few hours of convincing) do it just like she had when Cindy was little. She'd figured that two people grabbing her by the hair in two nights were two people too much, and that if she was gonna keep up with this Silk business she was going to have to cut it sooner or later. Now it bounced just above her shoulders instead of hanging to the middle of her back.

"And where did that come from?" Sally pushed but wouldn't let her answer before continuing, "When did you decide that, and why didn't you tell me?"

Cindy was still searching through her locker and putting in her coat, meaning that her back faced her friend and sheltered her somewhat.

"It was a spur of the moment, Sal, mom cut it yesterday." She slammed the locker shut and turned around with tired and annoyed eyes, glaring straight into Sally's before hissing, "Why is it such a big deal to you anyways?"

She didn't really know why she was so pissed at her, figured it was the lack of sleep combined with the stress she was under. Even though, she was too stubborn to let it go.

Sally stared back at her before scoffing and crossing her arms. She turned to Ned, who was fairly unsure of what to do about the whole situation.

"How was your weekend?" she asked sweetly. So, that's how she would have it – she was so pissed she'd just ignore Cindy.

The duo made a fairly light conversation as they all went down the hallway towards spanish and french, Cindy not bothering to hide her pout while she followed after them. It wouldn't take much to tick her off today, God knows if she even would make it through the whole school day…

"We'll see you later," Ned tried but the two girls wouldn't look at each other.

"Bye Ned," she greeted half heartedly before turning a corner and walking with determined steps toward the classroom. The fire inside her chest that had come from being angry had managed to burn out the nausea and dizziness, perhaps that was why she was so keen on keeping it there.

She shook the thoughts away. Damn, this day was going to be a lot harder than she had imagined.

She flomped down in her regular seat and opened up her notebook to the last page where she had scribbled down a bunch of 'ideas', if you could call them that. The lesson wouldn't begin for at least another five minutes so she might as well go ahead.

Her breath was shallow and shaky and her heart was still pounding like crazy as she tried to focus.

Her first option was to tell everybody (_everybody_ meaning her family and the police) the truth, the whole thing. That she had been bitten by a spider and gotten strange powers that made her shoot web out of her hands and climb on walls, and also that she with said powers for the past couple of days had been swinging around Queens and Manhattan protecting women and while doing so had overheard some bad guys plan some bad things. No photographs, no recordings, no evidence that what she said was truthful.

Her other option was to give the police an anonymous tip, one they most certainly would ignore. It was an empty lead, if it even was a lead?

Her third option, and this is where she started to get all sweaty, was to track down the car she had seen and somehow find the Kingpin through them and putting an end to his organization. Which, to be fair, was easier said than done.

She couldn't help but shudder as she thought of it.

The Kingpin was a powerful man. Like, _really_ powerful. For starters, no one had ever found out his true identity, who he really was. He could be anybody – a rich business man, a lawyer, a cashier at Starbucks. Okay, that last one was probably not very likely, but still!

Second of all, even if she did find out who he was it was unlikely that she would find any dirt on him, he would be too smart for that. He wouldn't have gone undetected for fifteen years if he weren't.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the chair next to her squeaked and a girl sat down. Looking up she found that the class was about to start and Mr. Gomez instructed them that they would be watching a movie for today's class and Cindy relaxed with a sigh.

During the whole time that the movie was playing she studied the scribbles in her book, trying to work her mind around it while being sheltered by the darkness. She was so in it that when Mr. Gomez turned back the lights on she jumped to her feet, receiving strange glares from a handful of her classmates.

Cindy quickly handed in her homework from last week before heading out the door, but she stopped dead in her tracks as she realized something.

Turning around she let her eyes sweep over the classroom to a seat by the window. An empty seat – Peter hadn't shown for class. He must be ill or something.

She continued down the hall toward her next lesson, still a lump in her throat which made the mere idea of food feel like she was gonna throw up.

* * *

Sally had ignored her for the whole day.

Although, it didn't really matter that much, since Cindy had been ignoring her back. She'd even eaten her lunch alone in the library instead of the cafeteria.

It wasn't about a stupid haircut, they had been friends for too long to be having an argument about that. No, this was about the fact that Cindy had snapped at her for no reason and hadn't apologized for it.

Still, she had no intention of doing so.

"You wanna join us for hot chocolate later at Spoons?" Ned tried, walking between the two girls towards their english class, the final lesson of the day.

Even though she was looking straight ahead she noticed the small movement of Sally's head turning toward her, meaning she was awaiting her move.

"Can't, I'm busy," she muttered and fastened her pace a little.

Just one class left and then she would be out of here, and hopefully the feeling of being suffocated would disappear. All Cindy really wanted was to curl up in her bed and bury herself underneath her cover, disappearing from the surface of the earth.

Her senses caused her neck to tingle and she spun around, just in time for Sally to grab her wrist and pull her to a halt just outside of the classroom.

"Ned why don't you go ahead, we'll be there in a moment," Sally stated rather and asked, her eyes boring into Cindy's.

The boy looked between the two of them before nodding and heading in through the open door.

Sally let go of her and Cindy crossed her arms in front of her, looking at a flyer someone had dropped on the floor.

"So?"

"So what?" Cindy tried, looking back up with a neutral expression.

"Why have you been avoiding me the whole day?"

Cindy rolled her eyes.

"I could ask the same question." Sally's eyes burned like embers, letting her know that that hadn't been the response she'd wanted.

"Will you stop with your bullshit? I haven't been avoiding you and you know it. I just wanna know what's up with you." Her gaze softened a bit along with her posture as she regarded Cindy. "Are you okay?"

Something stung in the corner of her eyes and she looked down at the floor.

This sucked. Everything just sucked and she couldn't tell her best friend about it.

"I'm fine." Cindy looked back up at her, her features relaxed into a blank expression.

Sally just blinked.

"Why aren't you telling me what's going on?" she pushed, her voice edged with a mix of irritation and worry.

"Just…" Cindy threw her arms out her sides, "Why can't you just _drop_ it?" she yelled. "Get off my back!"

They stared at each other for a good minute before Sally broke the silence with an icy voice, shrugging.

"As you wish." With that she pushed past Cindy and headed toward the table she and Ned shared.

Cindy exhaled, leaning her head back against a locker. She hated this. She hated it with all her heart.

Pulling herself back together she entered the room, absentmindedly heading over to her seat. She felt nauseous again but shook off the feeling, pulling up her notebook once again. Even though she had stared at it for the better part of the day she still hadn't gotten anywhere with it.

Instead it had only made her freak out even more, having her realize that she was just a fourteen year old girl from Queens. She was just a kid.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Cindy jumped a little and slammed the notebook shut, looking up at the person standing next to her with wide eyes. Sure, her senses had told her something was up, but they did that so many times a day that she usually just ignored them.

"He-hey Pete," she stuttered with a stressed smile.

He looked a little smug, knowing that he had caught her doing something she didn't want people to find out about. Of course, Cindy noticed this and tried to brush it off as casually as she could.

"I didn't hear you, you startled me."

"Right," he mused as he pulled out the chair next to her.

She took a deep breath to calm herself. Peter wasn't Sally, meaning that she couldn't just act like a dick for no reason and then expect everything to be fine between them, meaning she was obliged to socialize and be nice, something she _really_ wasn't in the mood for.

"So, how was your weekend?" Despite her efforts she couldn't hide the note of irritation in her voice. However, it seemed like the boy beside her wasn't listening. Instead his eyes were fixed on her head, skimming over it as she noticed a shy smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"I like your hair."

The comment was so sudden and unexpected made her insides tingle and Cindy had to bite the inside of her cheek not to blush. His fudgy eyes were looking straight into hers and for a moment she forgot that an infamous drug lord was after her dad.

"Uh… Thanks," she smiled gently, glancing down at her papers as she reached for her the ends of her hair without really knowing it. "My mom cut it."

"Really?" He quirked a brow while dropping out the insides of his bag onto the table and she hummed. She glanced over at him, feeling strangely calm by their conversation.

"Hey, I didn't see you in spanish class? Thought you were sick or something?"

She could have sworn she saw a flash of guilt strike over his features as his eyes focused on the pen he was fiddling with, but she blinked and it was gone.

"Yeah, no, I overslept that's all," he shrugged, looking up at her. There was still something, she felt, that was slightly off. A gleam in his eyes that reminded her an awful lot of a dog that was trying to hide the fact that it had done something it wasn't supposed to.

Cindy nodded, shaking it off. "Oh, right."

Her fingers tapped eagerly against the front of her notebook, her mind longing to open it back up and continue, even if she knew that she wouldn't get anywhere.

The Kingpin was intouchable, meaning she had a snowball's chance in hell of stopping him in case she tried. Still, if she didn't try, then everything was already lost.

The teen was stuck in her head for the rest of the class, not caring to pay attention to the 70's movie adaption of Macbeth that Mr. Herman – after a few minutes of fighting with the projector – had managed to start.

It wasn't until the end, when Peter nudged her arm as the teacher had noticed she'd zoned out, that she was pulled back into reality.

"Now don't forget your analyses – it's up to yourselves to decide when to do it, but a suggestion is to have written around a thousand words before the end of the week."

Cindy cursed to herself – she had completely forgotten about that! Looking up at Peter his expression revealed that he'd done the exact same. Their eyes met and they shared an awkward smile before packing down their things.

"So," she began, burying her tied fists into her pockets, "we should probably get started on the project." Peter also looked a bit like he had tasted something sour.

"Yeah, I guess we should. Hey, better sooner than later?"

"Right." Some bad words circled around in Cindy's mind. She really didn't want to deal with this, or any of her homework for that matter.

"We could head to my place. May won't mind, really," he suggested with a nod, fiddling with the ends of his sleeves.

Cindy's eyes caught Sally's for a second before looking away. What she really wanted was to just go home and be alone, but she knew she would have to do this sooner or later.

"Yeah, sure," she nodded, although she didn't sound as convincing as she'd hoped to. Despite that, he smiled back at her and nodded as he whipped out his phone and sent away a text.

They shuffled through the crowded hallway and turned a few corners before finally arriving. Ned and Sally hadn't gotten there yet and judging by the amount of people who were crowding it would take them a while to get there.

"I'm good to go," Cindy mused as she buttoned her coat. Looking up she found the boy grinning at her as he tied a scarf around his neck. That's when she noticed it.

A purple-ish bruise on his left temple, right above his eyebrow. Both in the classroom and on their way there she had been on his right side, meaning that she had been oblivious about it until now.

"What's happened?" Her eyebrows pinched together over the bridge of her nose and without thinking, she reached up her hand so the tips of her fingers touched it.

He squirmed out of it and pulled a beanie over his head to cover it.

"It's nothing, really," he assured but wouldn't look her in the eye.

They headed toward the exit but she still couldn't let it go.

"How the heck did you get a bruise _there_? Did someone punch you?" She instantly pictured Flash, but even though we was a bully she'd never seen him actually punch anyone.

Peter did not look comfortable with the question.

"What, no!" He buried his hands in his pockets and his shoulders rose closer toward his ears as he spoke. "I, ehr, walked into a street light."

She couldn't help but to giggle out loud.

"Maybe you need those glasses back," she joked, before catching herself – he was still wearing contacts so glasses wouldn't really make any difference. He laughed a little, relaxing a bit.

"Yeah maybe I do," he grinned down at his shoes. With a quirked brow she regarded him curiously, but decided to drop it.

They headed outside where they to their surprise found that the sun had melted away most of the snow and that the golden rays were warm on their faces. Spring had finally arrived, and a bunch of kids had taken off their coats in approval.

Walking past a shadowy area Cindy noticed a small pile of snow that had still to melt away and an idea popped into her mind.

She fell behind a few steps and quietly bent down, forming a firm ball in her hands. She'd never really been a great pitcher but that was just another thing her enhanced abilities had changed, causing the snowball to fly in a perfect curve toward the back of Peter's neck.

As it was just about to hit him he dropped to the side, dodging the ball witch inches.

Cindy's jaw all but dropped to the ground and her wide eyes stared at the boy in front of her, who whipped around with a baffled expression on his features.

"Th– that was you?" he breathed, attempting to sound casual but failing terribly. He buried his hand in one of his front pockets as the other one went up to correct his beanie.

"Uh," she replied wittedly, "yeah that was me."

For a few seconds they both just stared at each other, neither knowing what to really say, before Peter's shoulders relaxed and he dipped his head to the side matter-of-factly.

"The ice, I slipped," he explained, although his voice was still kind of rushed, and gestured to the ground where she – just like he said – found a patch of ice that still hadn't melted.

Cindy's eyes narrowed slightly. Sure, she was exhausted like never before, but she was also positive that whatever just had happened had not been a case of "_slipping"_. "Okay…"

They continued their walk like nothing had happened, although the air between them was slightly tense, chatting politely about school and how their families were doing all the way to Peter's front door.

He unlocked the door and as Cindy stepped in she was instantly hit by the familiar smells – dusty books, rose scented soap, and the permanent hint of burnt muffins coming from the kitchen.

"You want something to eat?" Peter dropped his backpack on the floor and moved to the kitchen area. "We've got some homemade banana bread, and some, oh, no sorry that's all we've got."

"No, banana bread's great," she waved off. She wasn't that hungry anyways.

As Pete picked out various plates and toppings she leaned against the dining table, following his movements as he moved around. She found herself feeling very self-conscious about herself and straightened up a little, only to slouch as it felt too stiff and formal.

Her eyes fell on one of the walls, which was covered with photographs and portraits. A bunch of them were school portraits of Peter, some were from various trips in the country, and her heart sank in her chest as she found herself staring at a grinning man.

Benjamin, Peter's uncle.

He and May had gotten married really young, traveling through America from San Francisco in a van before ending up in Queens and moving into this apartment. They hadn't been together for that long when Peter's parents – and May's brother – had passed away and they had taken him in. He'd been around six when it happened.

He had never told her about it, but her mom had filled her in when eight-year-old Cindy had wondered where his parents were.

Benjamin was cheeky and hilarious, and great at magic tricks. He'd even been performing on her ninth birthday party. He made funny voices, made a mean lasagna, and whenever someone would say "_I'm tired"_ or anything, he'd reply "_hi Tired, I'm Ben"_.

However, two years ago a drunk driver had hit his car into Ben's and he hadn't made it.

It had been Cindy's first funeral she attended and it had been so awful. She recalled trying to approach Peter a few times after it had happened but he had just turned his back on her or rushed off. It had taken weeks before she had dared talk to him again.

The sound of clinking porcelain brought her back to reality and her gaze moved from the man in the picture to the boy opening the refrigerator.

"So," she began awkwardly, "do we have any schedule for the day? I mean, you've already seen a few movies, right?"

"Yeah, but," he handed her a plate and glass of orange juice, "I think it would be a good idea to watch them together, you know, so we can write down and discuss things. But maybe start with figuring out which ones we should do?" She nodded with a wry smile. "Come on!"

Peter's room was in a corridor directly to the side of the kitchen, opposite to the appartment's compact bathroom. He headed in first, kicking some clothes off the floor and quickly brushing some tech stuff off the desk and into a drawer with blushing cheeks.

"So, yeah, I was in a hurry this morning." He gestured for her to sit down by the desk as he flomped down to sit cross-legged on the bed, sipping on his juice.

"So, which plays should we pick?" Cindy nibbled on the bread as she regarded him with curious eyes. "You said you liked '_Much ado about nothing'_, so maybe that one?"

"Yeah, we could compare the movie and the play," he agreed excitedly, a dimple appearing in his cheek. "You can choose the other one then, so we each get to pick."

Cindy pursed her lips, thinking for a minute.

"The theater club is performing '_West side story'_ in a few weeks, maybe we could go see that one and compare it to the original play?"

"Shakespeare wrote '_West side story'_?" Peter muttered with a deep frown as he skimmed through the pages in his notebook, clearly confused.

"No," Cindy laughed, "it's based off of '_Romeo and Juliet'_." Now that she thought about it it felt a bit weird to suggest that one, but now it was too late.

"Oh, yeah that sounds awesome, let's do that," Pete nodded as he scribbled it down in his notebook. He suggested that they would do the background work this week and read up on the plays and then watch them the next week, which she happily agreed to.

For about an hour and a half they googled around and skimmed through a few books Peter had brought home from the library and managed to get down almost a thousand words about the backstory of the plays as well as what aspects they were going to compare. It was surprisingly relaxing, doing something so ordinary, and it completely got her mind off things.

And on more than a few occasions she had to re-do her hair as everything just kept falling in her face. Eventually Peter fetched a small metal headband from May's room for her and she realized that this would pretty much become her new look.

Cindy's neck tingled – _annoyingly_ – and she heard the rustle of keys from the outside of the front door.

"Hey!" a woman's bright voice called out.

"In my room!" Peter yelled back at her. The door to his room was open so there was no doubt she heard him.

Cindy straightened herself a little and drew back an invisible strand of hair as May appeared in the doorway with a sunny smile on her rosy lips, her big brown eyes shining.

"Hi Cindy," she greeted and squeezed the girl's shoulder. "It's been so long since I saw you, how are you doing? How's school?"

"Hi May, I'm alright." She briefly explained the project that they were doing and Peter chipped in some details. It was always nice to see her, she was always so genuinely kind and concerned.

"Well, I'll leave you kids to it. Cindy are you staying for dinner? I'm making pasta." The teenager shook her head, explaining she'd run onwards home as soon as they were finished, and May closed the door behind her, humming as she headed toward the kitchen.

Cindy's phone lit up and as she eyed it she found a facebook notification. Someone she knew had shared a video with the text "_This is insane!"_. Feeling like she deserved a quick break she opened it, leaning backwards in her seat.

The video was someone filming the skyline in Manhattan and at first she didn't see anything, but as it zoomed in on a building she saw a person dressed in red and blue that climbed on the wall. She was just about to press the "_X"_ in the corner – dismissing it as another crazy dude who got a thrill out of climbing skyscrapers – but froze before she managed to.

The person jumped into the air above the street and fell toward a sure death, but just before they hit the ground they swung over the car and landed on another building. Before she knew it they once again swung, closer this time, and managed to swing headfirst into a tree. They quickly recovered, however, and swung out of the picture.

A bunch of people yelled and called, the one filming let out an impressed "_wow"_ before the camera dropped to the ground and the clip had ended.

Cindy was stunned. She didn't really know what to say – there was someone out there who could climb walls and swing effortlessly between buildings. It took her a few seconds to realize: someone like her.

From the corner of her eye she noticed Peter watching her curiously and she pressed play and held out her phone.

"Look!"

He watched with wide eyes – clearly impressed – and his jaw dropped a little. He nodded once the clip had ended an his jawline tensed a little.

"Yeah, wow, that- that's incredible," he blurted and she nodded.

"Right?" She shook her head, not quite believing it. She returned to the homescreen and saw she had a missed message from her mom, wondering where she was. Glancing at the watch she all but jumped to her feet. "God! I didn't realize it was so late," she mumbled, scratching the back of her neck. "I– I have to go."

She quickly gathered her things and threw them into her backpack before turning to her classmate.

"Mom, she… They want me to be back before it's too late. You know, school night and all." She tilted her head and smiled unsurely and he nodded quickly.

"Yeah, yeah, no I totally understand. No worries." He followed her to the door and she made sure to greet May goodbye as she threw on her coat, who asked her to say hello to her parents for her.

"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Peter said, scratching at a spot right below his ear. She nodded.

"Yeah, I guess. Don't forget decathlon practice," she joked and he grinned brightly at her, his eyes shining just like May's.

"Ha-ha, I'll try to keep it in mind." He nudged her side and she smiled back before handing back the headband and heading out the door and toward the elevator. She was the only one in it, despite the large building.

Her enhanced senses allowed her to feel the movement in a way she never had before, like she was riding a rollercoaster, and she couldn't shake the picture of the red-and-blue figure out her head. Somewhere, not far away, someone like her swung through the buildings of New York.

But for all she knew, they might just do the opposite of what she was trying to do. Maybe, they were just another threat.

* * *

**Don't forget to check out the playlist for the story (summary-chapter) and you might also see that I've updated the cast-list. For me, the Kingpin is no one other than Terry Quinn! I think he's rather perfect for it. And finally, the thing I've been looking forward to the most, incorrect quotes! (still completely stolen off scrapingskies)**

**Ned: Hey Sally, what do you think your last words will be?**

**Sally: Sarcastic, probably.**

_**I honestly love these so much.**_

**Instructor: Welcome to salsa class! Who's ready to learn how to dance?**

**Cindy, hiding a bag of tortilla chips: There's been a terrible misunderstanding.**

_**And I love Cindy and Sally so much, can't wait for them to just stop being smol shits at each other.**_

**Cindy: Hey did you bring gym clothes?**

**Sally: Who the fuck is Jim?**

_**Last one for tonight, I think.**_

**Cindy: Wow, look at your pretty eyes.**

**Peter: I can't.**

_**That's all folks, thanks for being the best!**_


	12. Chapter 11

**Heyy I'm back! **

**Like I mentioned in the previous chapter I've had a hellish year and this fall has been completely upside-down. That, along with the fact that I've had a massive writer's block and had my heart broken means that I haven't been feeling so in the mood for writing romance, as all it has done is reminding me that ****_I _****don't have any romance in my own life anymore (positive vibes, I know). But now I got a bit excited about this story again so I'm gonna try to jump back into the saddle and continue doing what I like. I'm not too happy with the language in this chapter, my brain's been feeling all mushy and like I've forgotten half of all the english I know, but hopefully you'll enjoy it still :)**

**AccelBreaker**: Thank you sweetie 3 And that would indeed be hilarious!

**PrettyRecklessLaura**: Hope you like this one! One step closer in the right direction

**Madi**: Yes, please read my disclamer in the summary chapter

**AppropriateLlama**: I really hope their first meeting will be fun to read, I have it planned out but I'm not 100% sure of the setting and everything, but we're not there yet so I've got some time to figure it out ;)

**Cleo9427**: I actually am gonna include him in this story, or at least in the part 2 (if we get there), and you don't have to worry: it most certainly will not be a copy ;)

**Tofu101**: I love you and your enthusiasm feeds my soul 3

**Ohmicrofilm**: Thank you so much sweetie!

* * *

Cindy Hye Moon found herself – once again – on a wall in a stinky alley, bending rather uncomfortably behind a balcony to avoid being seen and praying that her fingers wouldn't just 'slip' off the surface.

Oh, and it was raining.

It was thursday evening and for the past few days, Cindy had spent all her free time searching various alleyways in Manhattan and Queens to find associates of the Kingpin. She'd even snuck out during the nights and had searched the bigger parts of her neighborhoods without any luck, although she _had_ managed to stop several sexual assaults and a handful of robberies.

However, tonight her hard work seemed to finally pay off.

"You're late," a man in a heavy coat muttered, his russian accent thick. Beside him stood a handsome man in turtleneck, his features so sharp they could cut through paper. She recognized him from saturday night, when she had first found out about the Kingpin and his plans.

She still wasn't sure of what to do, just that she had to keep searching to find out as much about his plans as possible, what exactly it was that he was going to do and when. Then she would know what to do.

She hoped.

"You are early," another man replied with an obnoxiously upper class accent. He was rather short and slender, with a short beard and expensive-looking glasses, the kind of guy you wouldn't pick out of a crowd. "And I assume you have the money?"

The handsome man held forth a metal briefcase but just as the shorter guy was about to take it he pulled it back, waving his index finger at him.

"Ah-ah, not so fast. We'll need to see the discs first." He frowned while a wicked smile played on his lips, balancing the handle on two fingers. "It would be such a shame to let history repeat itself, wouldn't it?" He glanced at his mate.

"Such a shame."

Bingo – these guys had been in business before. Although she had no idea what those discs were, they sure as hell were important.

All she needed was some evidence of what they were trying to do and connect it to the Kingpin.

Jeez, it still felt weird to think even about it. The man was so infamous that people on the daily were trying to figure out who he really was. Youtubers made videos about conspiracy theories circling around him, kids and youths all over the city had made a common game of trying to figure out his real name, and it wasn't unusual to hear fellow students of Midtown discuss him in the hallways.

Cindy shifted her weight a little so that she could peek out from her hiding spot, getting a better view of the three men. The smaller one, he who had now been confronted, was shivering slightly and she figured it wasn't because of the rain. He stared at them for a good few moments, probably debating on whether he should obey or fight back.

"Right," he mumbled and reached into the inside of his jacket, pulling out an envelope and handing it over to the guy who wasn't holding the briefcase. He opened it, flicking through the smaller packages inside before giving a nod of approval. "It's all in there: the blueprints, the codes, information about employees. I just… The keys to the laboratory, I can't get them."

Once again the smaller man reached for the silvery briefcase and exhaled noticeably once it was in his hands. With all but twitching fingers he pressed the locks and the lid opened, and so did his mouth.

Cindy's angle prevented her from seeing what was inside, but as he turned it around and held it up in the men's faces she realized it was completely empty.

"What's this supposed to mean?" he sneered. "You're breaking the deal on me?"

The guy with a russian accent quickly drew a gun with a swift motion and aimed it square in the short man's face, causing his eyes to pop wide open as he raised his hand into the air. The metal case made a scraping sound as it fell to the ground. He wasn't going to shoot, Cindy knew this for sure. If his intention was to blow him up her senses would have been going crazy right now. Plus, if she intervened now she wasn't going to get the information she needed and would fall back to square one, and the clock was ticking.

"Now listen closely because here's how are going down," the handsome man began, tilting his head as his eastern friend made a big deal of pulling back the hammer of the gun. "While we make sure you've fulfilled your part of the deal you're gonna waltz your ass back to Oscorp and give us access to-"

"That's not the deal," the short one objected and Cindy's heart dropped a little. He was working at Oscorp? And he was selling them out? Bastard!

"The deal changed when you failed to deliver what you promised."

"But- but I don't have access to-"

"Quit shitting around. We've looked into you: with your background, getting access to the documents should be no problem. Although, if you're not willing to we'll find someone else that won't hesitate to do it for your paycheck. And, of course, this would also mean we can't guarantee your future safety."

Those words seemed to make him shrink about two inches and his expression twisted into one of shock and horror. Jeez, Cindy almost felt sorry for him. Oh wait, no she didn't.

"I- I see." He nodded, looking down at the ground rather than at the two men. "I guess I have no other choice then."

The two men's laughs were cold and the foreign one tucked the gun in his belt before snatching the briefcase off the ground and pushing past him.

This was it, they were leaving. If she was going to do something she was going to do it now. Now, Cindy was smart enough to understand that taking on the two gangsters was beyond her at the moment, it would probably do more damage to her hunt than help her. No, she needed someone that she could get on her side, that wouldn't run back to them and tattle-tail on her and ruin everything.

* * *

They left him standing alone in the alleyway, head down. It was a shitty day to be Martin Nighy on. His socks were soaking and he was freezing to his core, although it warmed him somewhat to kick away the stone that lay at his feet.

Damn it, he really needed that money. He was in too much debt to screw this up, but still he had managed to, like he always did. Screw-up!

Martin absentmindedly turned around and started walking back to the street, checking his watch, when he suddenly found himself incapable of moving any further.

"What the-" he looked down at his shoes that were covered in some white… _goo_? He tried lifting them again but it was all in vain, like they had been glued to the ground. Reaching out for it he found that it wasn't glue, it was spiderweb. "What the fuck!"

"If you scream I'll shut your mouth for you," a sudden voice said from above and in the process of violently turning in all directions he managed to fall onto his butt, his feet still in place on the concrete.

A shadow landed in front of him, just a few feet away. It was a woman, he quickly realized, and she was completely dressed in dark, except for the white on her shirt and the red scarf that covered the bottom half of her face.

"Who the fuck are you?" he shouted, trying to kick away. She got up to her feet and hurried over to his side, looking down into his eyes.

"Give me their names," she demanded. Martin remained silent as he stared into her dark eyes that were as sharp as daggers. Whoever this clown thought she was she clearly thought he was dumber than he looked.

"Never," he spat in response. The woman sighed deeply and her body relaxed as she stood up. She kicked the same stone that he had only a minute earlier and drew a hand through her hair.

"Okay look, I really need to find the Kingpin and I need your help to do so. If I understood your conversation correctly he needs your help and I think that you maybe don't want to get your hands dirty, am I correct?" He just blinked at her. "Come on man you gotta help a girl out here," she threw her arms out her sides.

Whatever this was, it was the strangest thing Martin had ever been through, and he had only a few moments ago nearly been shot in the head by associates of the Kingpin.

"Listen, if you help me take him down then you don't have to worry about your "_future safety"_ and all that crap, you with me? Maybe you'll even be seen as a hero. It's a win-win situation as far as I'm concerned!"

"I need the money," he blurted, getting rather annoyed with this brat. Who did she think she was?

"Okay, I'm gonna be honest with you," she looked him in the eye, a few strands of hair falling into her face that she brushed away with annoyance, "I don't have any money."

"Then why the hell are you trying to make a deal with me?" he yelled and it caused her to jump a little, looking over her shoulder toward the street. He took a deep breath to call for help but she stopped him, waving her hands like crazy.

"Hey hey, okay we'll figure that one out. How much did they promise you?" He stared at her with disgust. "Come on, tell me a number!"

"Two point two million dollar." Even though her jaw was hidden underneath the scarf he could see it drop and he smirked. It was good money, definitely. Totally worth it.

"Yeah okay, that's not gonna work out," she massaged her temples using the tips of her fingers. Poor thing, she looked exhausted. "I do have another offer for you however."

He laughed.

"You just said you don't have any money," he spat and by now the chilly rain had made him shiver.

"Well," the mysterious woman began, pacing the grounds and throwing an invisible ball between her hands. "The way I see it, you either help me out, or I turn you in to the police."

That made his heart skip a beat. Shit shit shit, that brat could _not_ send the cops on him!

Calm down, Martin, he told himself as he looked up at her with a smile.

"And what exactly are you going to turn me in for?"

They stared into each other's eyes for a good moment before she flipped up a cell phone from her pocket and suddenly he found himself listening to his own voice.

"_I assume you have the money?"_

"_Ah-ah, not so fast," he heard another man's voice say. "We'll need to see the discs first. It would be such a shame to let history repeat itself, wouldn't it?" _

The woman pressed pause and looked down at him with a very smug smile playing in her eyes.

"You were saying? Oh, and I almost forgot!" She pressed the screen a few times before turning it to him. "Now I don't think is is your best angle, but I'm sure you like it a hell of a lot better than a mugshot. Don't you agree?"

The picture showed him and the two men he'd been meeting, just as they were leaving. Damn.

He started to shake more violently as he straightened himself a little, drawing his hand over his face.

"Please, I was tricked, I didn't want any of this," he plead with wide eyes. "Look, I have a career, if this gets out I will be done. Is it money you want? I can get you whatever you want, just–"

"Your career?" she echoed, eyes narrowed and boring straight into him like daggers. "You'd send innocent people to jail in a heartbeat – as far as I'm concerned, your career is being a criminal."

The mysterious – and utterly strange – woman took a few steps back as she pondered something. Martin once again tried to free himself from the white goo at his feet but just as if it had been gum his foot snapped back to the ground.

"Look, you have two options here: either I hand you over to the police along with the pictures and recording, or I let you go. On my terms."

"I think I'll go with the second one," he smirked, trying to look charming, although he looked more like a drowned rat. The woman's eyes beamed as she crossed her arms.

"Perfect."

* * *

A sharp whistle cut through the air.

"Jesse Flynn you get your ass out of that basketball hoop!" The coach was in a bad mood today, which really wasn't that surprising – teaching a bunch of loud, anxious, fourteen year olds high on hormones how to dance was probably _not_ on his things-I-love-to-do-list.

Cindy was standing in the back of the bunch, digging her nails into her arms to prevent herself from pressing her palms against her ears. Her head felt like it was about to explode. She was very close to snatching that old whistle right off his neck and make sure it never saw the light of day again. It would be her genuine pleasure.

"Now, I don't want any fuss over who's dancing with who – we're a bit short on ladies so a few of you guys will have to partner up–" he was interrupted by a joint melody of groans, "–and _yes_, you are required to hold hands." That announcement received even bigger protests.

While the coach was busy arguing with Cindy's fellow moody teenagers she dared glance to the side. Sally was standing a few yards down to her right. Still ignoring her.

Truth was that Cindy had started to really miss her friend and their wonky conversations. However, she was still pissed that she'd been so on her ass about what was going on. Sure, she knew it had only been because she cared for her, but she really hated that bossy side of her.

Glancing the other way she found Ned and Peter beside her, staring at the coach with wide eyes, all while Peter was poking his friend violently on the arm before whispering something to him. Suddenly, they both turned their heads and looked at her. She quickly looked away and her cheeks burned slightly.

She shook it off. Damn, she couldn't believe she was in a high school dance class instead of out there, getting closer to the Kingpin. This was pure torture.

"Enough! If you have a problem with my class then I suggest you take it up with the principal. Now – pair up with the person beside yourself, _despite_ gender."

Cindy exhaled and let her head fall back a little – there was no getting out of class, she was stuck here, but at least Ned would be her partner. She could do a lot worse. However, when she looked up she didn't find Ned standing beside her, she found Peter standing there with his arms crossed, like he'd been standing like that forever.

He offered her a wry smile and leaned a bit closer to her.

"He's making Flash dance with Timothée," he sniggered, his eyes gleaming with joy as he looked at the bully. Timothée was this french exchange student who was openly gay and couldn't be more proud of it, and although it never had any effect on him, Flash never missed an opportunity to make fun of him. Now, however, he seemed to have lost his courage and was as pale in his face as a ghost. Apart from being president of the PRIDE-club, Timothée was most famous for winning a bunch of championships for dancing.

"Come on, mon cheri, let's dance the night away," he grinned while offering a hand to the bully, big smirk on his lips, knowing exactly how make his as uncomfortable as possible.

"Karma's a bitch," Cindy giggled before turning to him. "What happened to Ned? Did he find me too intimidating?" Peter laughed in reply while rubbing his hand at the back of his neck.

"Actually, he had made plans on beforehand that didn't really match with the coach's." He nodded to the side and upon following his gesture her eyes fell upon Ned and Sally standing together, laughing as they made fun of making a big deal of holding each other's hands.

"They really like each other," she mumbled and couldn't help but smile. "Do you think they're trying to keep it from us or do they just not know it themselves?"

"I don't think they have a clue, to be honest," he whispered back.

"Move it, people. Scatter. You're gonna need the space. Now that's it – ladies, put your right hand on your partner's shoulder and the other in their hand; boys – your left hand on your partner's waist.

Cindy and Peter looked at each other, both equally surprised and embarrassed by where they were supposed to place their hands. You'd imagine two kids who were smart enough to go to Midtown would have figured out sooner rather than later that _dancing_ involved touching each other.

Peter shrugged nervously as he offered her his left hand.

"Why are you always wearing long-sleeves?" The question leapt out of Cindy's mouth before she even knew she had thought the question and her cheeks flushed. They stood with their hands in each other's, with her right hand on his shoulder and his left hand on her waist – his touch as light as a feather's.

He looked at her and blinked, mouth half ajar. She was just about to apologize for her blunt question as he beat her to it.

"No reason, I like them, it's quite chilly. Isn't it?" he rambled. Cindy quirked a brow.

"No it's not."

"I'm gonna put on the music now. Remember what we talked about: straight postures, don't look down at your feet, and at least try to move to the rhythm," the coach announced and pressed play, causing a weird mix of slow electro music to fill the gymnasium.

Cindy felt the beats pulsating through her body and had no problem moving her feet along to it, and neither did Peter. Usually the boys – Timothée excepted – moved like stiff brooms and stumbled over their own feet, but Peter's moved as smoothly as water.

"Why aren't you using your inhaler any more?" he asked suddenly and she nearly swallowed her tongue, looking up at him with eyes wide in surprise.

"Wha- what?" she stuttered. Shit! She really hadn't thought anyone had noticed the fact that she didn't need to take an air-shot every time she did something remotely physically straining. "Yeah, no I," she was completely lost at words, and his warm fudgy eyes didn't help. She swallowed hard before smiling at him. "I don't need it so much anymore."

He did not look fooled but instead seemed quite pleased with himself.

"What's up with you and Sally?" he asked instead, softer this time. His eyes moved between Cindy and her best bud. "I mean, Ned said you're not talking anymore, and you keep staring at each other when you think the other one's not looking."

Once again Cindy blushed and she focused her eyes on a birthmark on his collarbone. It was a very pretty birthmark, one of those that looks a bit squishy. She wondered what it would feel like to touch it…

_Dear God Cindy _no_._

"Yeah, we've had sort of a disagreement," she confessed, clearing her throat a little. "I mean, it's nothing really. I'm mad at her and she's mad with me. I'm sure it's gonna be over soon."

The two of them danced in silence for a few minutes, smiling in synch as Flash stepped on his own feet and fell on his bum with a loud groan. After a short while the coach interrupted them with new instructions before letting them continue.

Cindy glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed internally. More than half of the lesson was left and after that she had decathlon practice, and after that material arts. And somewhere between all that she had to contact her new mole and make sure he wasn't thinking about fucking up her plans.

"Hey Cindy, by the way," Peter started, "I thought that maybe we could watch 'Much ado about nothing' this weekend?"

"Oh," Cindy exclaimed, being drawn from her thoughts. "I don't think I can this weekend, sorry." She was going to be too busy looking for the Kingpin's next move, and finding out who he really was.

"Oh okay. Maybe the beginning of next week then?" She looked up at him, why did he push this so hard? He gave her a meaningful look. "Mr. Herman wanted us to hand in a brief synopsis before the end of next week, remember?"

"Oh right, sorry," she mumbled,"maybe we should just watch it on our own, I'm gonna be pretty busy next week too." He hummed in reply.

"One, two, three, one, two, three," the coach called as he clapped along to the music and Cindy rolled her eyes at him, although she knew that if it hadn't been for that bloody spider she would have stumbled and fallen on her nose more than a few times. Was even possible for her to stumble now?

"Can I ask you something?" Peter suddenly spoke up. She looked up at him and found that his face had fallen into a soft curiosity, bordering on nervous: his brows were slightly pinched together and he chewed on the inside of his cheek, all while his eyes flickered from her face to some other couple dancing around them.

"Ask away," she replied with a casual shrug, even though her stomach tickled in a way she didn't like.

"Have I done you wrong in any way?"

She blinked at him. He looked away and shrugged a little before looking back.

"I mean, for the past couple of weeks I've felt like you're kind of avoiding me. You used to be really chatty and smile a lot but now it's like," he paused for a moment, "it feels like there's something unspoken between us."

Cindy blushed and looked away. God, had she really been that obvious?

_He_ had been the one who started it, comparing her to Liz and basically saying that she wasn't good enough, breaking her heart into a million pieces. Then Ned and Sally had gone and become friends, meaning that the four of them were kind of forced to hang out together.

"Look," she began, wishing that she could just swing out the window so she didn't have to be in this incredibly awkward situation, "I overheard you talk about something and it kind of upset me. That's why I've been a bit off lately."

Peter looked like a half drowned puppy upon hearing this and Cindy quickly shook her head, causing her dark her to whisk all around her face.

"Don't worry, it's fine. And I'm sorry for putting you off, I'm just really stressed about something personal right now. It's taking up a lot of my time."

Peter nodded slowly.

"I get it, I have something like that too." Cindy laughed internally. "_Yeah, not quite the same though," _she thought to herself while doing a half bad work at hiding her smirk. "What was it that I said?"

"Huh?" she blinked.

"That upset you," he continued and looked down at their moving feet. "I'm really sorry for whatever it was, I've never meant to offend you in any way."

"It's nothing, really," she blurted, looking away as well, suddenly very conscious about how close he was. What was she supposed to say? His words rang in her ears, "_She's no Liz Allan"_.

He nodded slowly.

"So we're friends?"

She offered him a smile, a genuine smile. "As long as you don't step on my toes." He smiled brightly and chuckled as he promised not to.

"So, since we're friends, can I ask you what it is that you're so busy with?" Peter chimed, a tad more relaxed now than he had been a moment ago. He quirked a brow. "Are you planning on kicking my but at decathlon practice?"

Cindy scoffed playfully, "Like I have to study to do that." Peter giggled and stepped out of rhythm, but quickly corrected his mistake with a glance at the coach. She pondered for a moment, wondering how to be as truthful as possible without revealing too much information. "I guess you could call it a neighbourhood-project, of some sorts."

He understood that that was as much information as she was gonna give him and simply nodded along.

"You wanna try a spin?" he asked.

"What?"

"Like coach Wilson showed us. He's looking so we might get some extra credit." Cindy nodded and let go of his shoulder, allowing her to be gently spun around (even though her senses warned her that it was hella dangerous). She caught herself on his shoulder, standing a lot closer to him than she had just a second ago, almost nose to nose. Just like when he caught her before stepping in front of a car.

Their eyes met. He smelled like lemon gum and deodorant. He swallowed hard.

"So," he cleared his throat as she took a step backwards, "have you seen anything more about that spider-man?"

"Spider-who?" she asked confused.

"That video you showed me." Cindy thought for a few second and then remembered when she had been home at his place a few days ago and they'd watched that video with a guy who swung around, just like her. Shit, she had almost forgotten about him. She really needed to add that to her list, she did _not_ need a web-slinging thief on her hands as well.

"No, I haven't actually. Are there more videos?" Peter was just about to answer her as she interrupted. "Wait, he calls himself "_spider-man"_? What a dopey name."

'_Yeah because "Silk" is so much better?'_ a voice in her head retorted. Peter looked a bit discouraged.

"I think it's pretty cool," he mumbled but before he could continue his eyes widened slightly. The hair on Cindy's neck tickled as they rose and a shiver fled down her spine, it was like someone tooted a horn inside her brain calling "_danger, danger!"_.

In a fraction of a second the palms of her hands became as dry as a desert and a millimeter's worth of web emerged from the tips of her fingers, ready to shoot at the danger, and before she knew it the coach's sharp whistle echoed between the walls.

That bloody whistle.

Of course she jumped and instinctively took a step backwards, only to feel Peter's hands press against her back.

God how she hated this.

"Sorry," she growled before fixing her dark eyes on their coach who explained that they were going to do a certain move and that they were free to leave for the locker-rooms when they were tapped out by him.

Cindy and Peter were among the first ones to be tapped out, something that a few months earlier would have been unthought of, and the both of them hurried off with quick goodbyes. They would see each other again at decathlon practice and Cindy had no time to spare, she had about fifteen minutes to find a quiet place safe from any nerd's bugging or drones or God knows what they did and call Martin. He needed to be reminded of her existence. And the alleged 'threat' she was posing.

She skipped the shower – another Silk-perk was that she barely sweat anymore – and quickly changed into her regular clothes: a pair of pale mom-jeans and a striped long-sleeve that hugged her body. As she threw on a hoodie her classmates began falling in, chatting and laughing loudly, causing Cindy's senses to flip out completely again. She grabbed her bag and was just about to head out the door as someone grabbed her wrist.

She whipped around, ending up face to face with Sally, who looked genuinely concerned.

"Where are you going?" Her voice was soft but serious and her eyes big with worry. She was still holding on to her wrist. Cindy glanced over her shoulder at the door. "Since when are you skipping showers? Are you planning to ditch the decathlon practice too, huh?"

"I'm just… I have to make a phone call," Cindy mumbled. Sally still didn't let go of her and leaned in closer, looking her friend deep in the eye.

"Look, this isn't cute or funny anymore. Whatever's up with you you have to tell me." Cindy scoffed and looked away, taking a step backwards. Sally still held on to her. "I'm serious. I'm worried about you!"

Cindy sighed and looked up at her friend.

"You don't have to be," she assured softly. Sally did _not_ buy it.

"_Tell me_," she pushed and this time Cindy used her extra strength to pull back her hand.

"You have to let this go," she bit back and headed out the door, her backpack thrown over her shoulder. The door had barely shut behind her when Sally's furious steps chased after herald into the empty hallway.

"You're being-"

"What!" Cindy yelled over her shoulder, completely out of patience. "I'm being _what_? Obstinate? Excessive? Childish?"

"I was gonna say cray-cray." Sally knew very well how to step on her toes. "For fuck's sake, Cindy, what the hell's the matter with you?" she called but Cindy just kept going. "If you don't tell me then we're not friends anymore."

Cindy's feet stopped working and a ticklish feeling appeared in her stomach, just like when you're riding a rollercoaster. Sally had stopped walking too, standing a couple yards behind her.

"Sal, _please_ trust me on this. I can't tell you." Jeez, it felt like a whole building was resting on her shoulders, forcing her head to hang heavily. It was silent for a moment.

"Why?" Sally's voice revealed that she was more confused than upset. Cindy turned her head slightly over her shoulder, hugging herself through crossed arms.

"I can't tell you," she pushed, a sob caught in throat. Sally walked up to her with determined stepsand placed both of her hands on her upper arms. Cindy wouldn't look her in the eye, just down at her muddy boots.

"I'm not gonna let you go anywhere before you tell me. Hell, Cin, you're freaking me out!" Words couldn't describe how much she loved her. And missed her. "Has anything happened with your parents?"

Cindy looked up at her, close to tears, and Sally realized she'd hit home.

"Come on, what is it?" Her hand brushed against her shoulder.

It felt like someone had attacked her with a pepper mill and then punched her in the stomach. She didn't know how to deal with all this: her new powers, juggling school and activities while helping people, the fact that her father risked being sent to prison, the fact that the person who wanted to send him there was one of the most wicked people of them all.

She couldn't do all of this on her own. She needed her friend.

She quickly scanned the hallway to make sure no one saw them.

"Okay look," Cindy's voice was dead serious, "I'm gonna tell you a secret. And not an I-have-a-crush-on-someone secret, this is serious. You _can't_ tell _anyone_, understand?"

Sally stared at her with mouth half ajar for a good moment, trying to work out if this was all a big prank. Eventually she nodded.

"Whatever it is I won't tell anyone, I swear."

"Not even the police?"

"WHAT? Cindy that the hell have you done!" Cindy gave her a meaningful look.

"You have to promise."

"Shit." Sally rubbed her face, pondering hard before throwing her arms out her sides wearing an deadpan expression. "Sure, what the hell. Partners in crime. Just don't tell me you've killed someone 'cause I'm not digging a grave."

* * *

**I'd love to hear you guys' thoughts on this chapter and if you think I've still got it or if I need to get my act together. Hopefully you'll hear from me very soon :D NOW: Incorrect quotes!**

**Cindy: I'm cold.**

**Peter: Here take my jacket.**

**Ned: I'm cold too.**

**Sally: Well fuck I can't control the weather, Ned.**

_**Finally Sal and Cin are back together and ready to shit things up together!**_

**Sally: They say that talking to someone about your feelings helps. **

**Cindy: That and jogging.**

**Sally: The two things I hate most.**

_**And it's gonna be amazing, and so much easier to write now that I can finally include conversations about everything!**_

**Sally: We're so in sync we finish each other's–**

**Cindy: Sentences!**

**Sally: Bitch don't interrupt me.**


	13. Chapter 12

**Good morning, day, or evening to you, wherever in the world you might be. I'm back again fairly soon, if you compare to the last time, and am planning to publish the next chapter quite soon as well. We're getting really close to a few things I have been looking forward to for a long time that will really define this story and Cindy as a character. **

**This chapter was so much fun to write and wrote most of it during this past week and a half. I'm challenging myself with this story by not having everything planned out except for the bigger plot lines, meaning that it's very easy to get stuck. I've had to work hard on this one to try and make sense out of everything and at the same time stay on track on the information I've written in the past chapters, so I hope you keep that in mind – if you notice something's iffy and doesn't add up, don't hesitate to send away a DM and let me know!**

**Don't forget that I publish on my profile how far I've written on the upcoming chapter, so if you're ever curious or thinking I'm taking too long, check there! Or write me a message saying "Agnes you need to get off your ass and start writing!"**

**MedicusAestus: **YES she finally will, and it warms my heart that you've missed it! :)

**AccelBreaker: **I don't wanna think of her as a "female version" of Ned, but since she does play the best-friend role (and is awesome with technology) I understand what you mean and I guess you could say that :)

**ThatNerd1: **It's not possible to write heart emojis on here, but if I could, you would get a bunch!

**PrettyRecklessLaura: Thank you so much sweetie and here you go!**

**xoxoMooseTrackxoxo: **Welcome to the story, it really means a lot to me to hear that you like it! And you're completely right, Sally _is_ a good sectet-keeper ;)

**Also many thanks to bethlehem945, TGKat, XxAwkwardAlienxX, SkippingThrough, MrsLutz5, Dragon2920, ChessurKait, esmmr, Zimtzicke23, miniman1706, Kbug1, Oddity Empress, TheAlleyCat18, SilencEloquent, mercenary2.0, Writing on Rooftops, Jess-0498, CrackHeadBlonde, Mandi Blanche, LisaJohnson21, tryxxi, BookBugg, NNergiz81, Gbm132, Zabuza Momichi23, ElephantLover220, EthaGrinndt, celticank, elljayde, and dreamers414 for following/favoriting this story – you are amazing!**

* * *

"No. No, no, no. _No_."

This was the only word that had come out of Sally's mouth for the past fifteen minutes.

The two of them were outside, by the bleachers, and Sally was currently pacing a hole in the ground. Her feet made an annoying, squishing noise against the mud. Cindy glanced down at her phone and winced as she realised that her decathlon practice had started a few minutes ago.

"Sally, please-"

"_No_!"

Jesus, she would be here all day!

_Squish, squish, squish, squish…_

"Sal," she tried again.

"Na-ah."

Cindy threw her head backwards and sighed. She was seriously tempted to web her friend's feet against the ground, but she was so freaked out already that it would probably do more harm than good. Although it was something she had to do sooner or later: prove her alleged powers.

"_Sally_." She stopped dead in her tracks and looked up at her.

"No."

Now this was as far as Cindy's patience reached and she skipped down the benches she'd been slumped on, standing by Sally's side as she continued pacing.

"Why can't you just tell me the truth," she muttered with irritation, "Why do you have to make shit like this up. I swear to God!"

"I told you the truth," Cindy sighed, looking down at the ground as she buried her hands in her pockets. Sally snorted.

"Yeah, 'the Kingpin' is after your dad and wants to send him to prison, and you're the only one that can save him, because a spider bit you and now you're a 'super-person', claiming to be that Silk maniac. Very realistic."

"Mutated spider," she muttered back. Turns out she'd had no reason to be nervous to tell her what had been up with her, she'd had to tell the story three times before they ended up here. "Why would I lie to you?"

Sally stopped and was incredibly close to smacking her friend across the forehead. Cindy knew this because her senses told her to jump to the side.

"Hmm, I don't know, maybe because you have lied to me for the past week now? I really don't understand you," she crossed her arms in front of her, "I'm standing here, in front of you, expressing my genuine concern, and you pull this crap on me!"

Now that was it. Cindy was a lot of things, but a liar wasn't one of them.

About ten feet away from where they stood someone had forgotten a football and without thinking twice, Cindy reached out a hand and sent out a handful of strings. The ball landed softly in her hands before offering it to Sally, whose eyes were as wide as the ball.

"I'm not lying to you. I _was_ bit by a spider, and the Kingpin _is_ trying to cover up himself – sending my dad to jail." She moved over to her backpack and started digging. "For the past week I've been spending my nights in various alleys, spying on the Kingpin's (men. Here's my headband." She held it out for her friend to see. It was really dirty and stained, and still a bit damp from yesterday.

She flicked it so it landed in her bag again and then took the ball from Sally's hands before throwing it all the way across the field, thanks to her super-strength.

"I'm not lying to you!" She turned back to her friend and looked at her with pleading eyes and for the first time in forever, Sally looked at her like something had fallen into place. Not just right there and then, but since all of this began.

It was also fair to mention that she was pale as a ghost.

"I need to sit down."

"Yeah, sure, of course." She helped her friend to one of the benches, although Sally flinched when she touched her and Cindy's heart broke a little. They sat there, side by side, Cindy looking like she had a stick up her ass and Sally sitting with her face buried in her hands. It would have been a strange sight to see, if anyone else would have been there.

"I'm really sorry about all of this," Cindy whispered. Her fingers moved gently over her own hands. "And I'm sorry I've been a shitty friend lately. I don't know why all this happened to me, I wouldn't have chosen it, but it is what it is now and I have to help my dad. I understand if…" Her eyes stung a little but she quickly shook it off. "I understand if you don't want to be around me anymore-"

"_What_?"

Cindy looked up and found her friend staring at her like she was a complete moron. "What do you mean "_what"_?"

"Okay, don't get me wrong, I'm still freaking out about all… this," she made a gesture to the whole of Cindy, "but I'm not gonna throw you under the bus." Cindy's heart ached with warmth. "I just- fuck! Can you to that…" she stared at Cindy's fingers, "That thing again?" Her voice was high-pitched and tense like never before.

Cindy blinked.

"Uh, yeah sure." She looked up in search of something she could catch, but besides that football – which was now a couple of hundred feet away and too far away for her – the field was clean and empty. They where, however, rather close to the football goal.

With a quick glance over the open area to make sure no one had joined them outside, Cindy shot out a few strings of web and swung up, landing swiftly on the metal bar. Without slipping, she slid down so she sat with her legs dangling in the air, a stunned Sally gaping up at her from the bleachers.

"You want me to get you up here?"

"_Are you crazy_!"

* * *

"So, that little weasel you caught works ar Oscorp?"

"Yup," Cindy smacked her lips.

They were walking through the school corridors now. Cindy had completely given up on the decathlon practice, which had ended about five minutes ago. Olivia would give her hell about it but that was a different problem for a different day – right now she needed to consult with her best friend.

"He works in the tech department, coding their website and making sure the place doesn't just lock down. He's a background-guy, he's probably never met my dad." She really wanted to hit one of the lockers, but that would most likely result in a dent so big it would be impossible to brush off as "_I was just pissed"_. Sally knowing she was Silk was one person too much.

"And he's just doing it for the money?" Sally pushed. Her facial expression was the same as when she's doing math or physics: squinting eyes and pursed lips, like she was calculating something.

"Yeah, they're giving him a sick sum." Cindy shook her head and sighed. Jesus – her plan would never work, of course he would go behind her back and stab her in it! She was competing with the _Kingpin_ for sod's sake.

"And what are you giving him?"

"I'm threatening to tell the cops on him," she groaned, burying her face in her hands. "I'm dead meat."

"But why don't you just hack his phone and stuff? Then he'd know you're serious and you'd see what he's telling them. You could dig up all sorts of crap on him."

Cindy stopped in her tracks and just blinked at her.

"I- I can't do that. Can _you_ do that?" Heck, she knew Sally was great with computer-stuff but she'd never heard anything about this.

"Remember last year when I was supposed to email Mrs. Sullivan that I had to skip class and that I was sorry, and for fun wrote this draft about how much I despised her class and that she was about as modern as a rock and then accidentally sent it?" Cindy hummed in agreement. "Yeah, I can do that."

Cindy threw her arms out her sides. "Why didn't you tell me!?" Sally gave her a meaningful look. A _mischievous_ look. "No. Don't tell me…"

"Sorry." Sally shrugged and snickered, very satisfied with herself. God know what she had done over the years. So many things made sense now. "Now do you want my help or not?"

"_Yes_! Sal, you're an angel!" She threw her arms around her friend's shoulders and it felt like a heavy weight had fallen from her shoulders. _Finally_ something seemed to go her way.

She noticed a twitch in her friend's mouth, a nice change to the frown she'd been carrying around for a week now. Out of all of the things Sally had imagined – being depressed about Peter, someone in her family passing away, her parents being sick, stressing out about school, drugs… – being bit by a mutated spider was _not_ one of them.

"Don't worry. I'll dig up as much dirt on him as I can find. That ought to keep him in check. But also: Cindy, you're a bloody teenage mutant ninja spider," even though she had accepted the by now, Cindy could still tell she was creeped out by it, "freak him out and shoot some webs or break a garbage can over him or something."

"I can't do that," Cindy hissed, slapping her on the arm.

"Eh, ouch?" Sally quirked a brow and Cindy rolled her eyes.

"Sorry… Yeah I guess I _could_ do that, but doesn't that make me as bad as him?" Sally gave her a sharp look. "Yeah okay, you're right. Although I do think it's a good idea to play good-cop. You know, apart from the black mailing thing."

Sally didn't have time to as much as open her mouth before they both stood in the shadow of a very pissed senior student. Olivia's shadow, to be precise.

Her brows were pinched together over her brown eyes, creating creases on her otherwise smooth forehead. Cindy's sensitive ears heard a soft tapping from Olivia's hands, resting on her hips, and the gentle noise of her backpack starting to slide down from her shoulder.

Oh shit, this was not going to be a fun talk.

"You didn't show up for practice," she stated plainly. Not with rage, not loudly. Just hollow and frosty. "The regional championship is in a few weeks, Cindy, and I can't have you and Peter ditching us whenever you feel like it. It was a bold move to recruit freshmen to the team but you assured that you understood the responsibility." Cindy frowned. Peter hadn't showed for today's practice either? Again? "I am sorry to say this, but if you miss out on anything more, I'm gonna have to bench you. I just thought you had the right to know."

The senior's eyes were filled with disappointment rather than rage as she gave Cindy one final look before turning away. Her moment of joy was completely gone now, instead something cold and hard had crawled its way into her stomach.

"Wait!" Olivia turned around and looked at Sally with surprize. She probably didn't even know her name. Cindy looked at her too, however her gaze was a lot sterner. "It's my fault. I'm going through some crazy family stuff right now and really needed to talk some things through. It's a one time thing, she won't miss out again."

"Oh," Olivia paused and drew back a few strands of hair to behind her ear, looking slightly embarrassed. "I see. I'm sorry Sally," turns out she _did_ know her name, "if there's anything I can do just let me know."

Sally replied with a blank smile, knowing very well that it was all just a matter of politeness. "Thanks."

The two girls stared at each other for a moment and Cindy sensed a spark of opposition between them. It was just then that she remembered what Olivia just had said.

"Wait, Peter didn't show up again?" What was it, the second – third? – time he skipped it? Now he was just being reckless!

Olivia broke the stare and glanced at her, half annoyed. "Yes, he did. I thought maybe the two of you were off somewhere. If you see him you can let him know that he's in on his last strike: if he miss out on anything more he won't be joining us for regionals. He might not even be welcome back to the team."

Jeez, she wasn't kidding around.

"Yeah, sure. I'll tell him," Cindy muttered and the tall senior left them for her awaiting friends down the hallway. "Thanks, Sal. Quick thinking."

"One of my many talents," she shrugged in reply. "Sorry for making you miss practice." Cindy just laughed and wrapped an arm around hers.

"It's okay. To be honest, I feel a ton lighter now that you know. I've felt awful hiding it from you." They passed by the library, where a few students still were studying despite the late hour. Sally shrugged again.

"It's okay, I get it now. I would probably have done the same thing if I was in your shoes."

An odd, tingling feeling moved around Cindy's stomach like a fish in seaweed. "I'm freaking out, Sal. I don't know what to do. What if he gets my dad? I just can't let that happen, I _can't_!"

Sally pulled her to a halt, placing both her hands on either sides of her arms.

"Breathe, Cindy. We're gonna figure this out. Together. I promise." The smaller girl wrapped her into a tight hug – almost too tight – and exhaled a deep breath. "We just need a plan. We're gonna figure out a plan."

"I have a few hours before my material arts class? If I'm-"

"_We_."

"If we're gonna take him down I'm gonna need to know how to throw a serious punch." At that point Sally actually started laughing her straight in the face.

"Oh man, that's just a hilarious picture."

She received a not-so-light punch on her arm as the two girls proceeded to walk toward the subway station. Cindy continued telling her friend about the man at her dad's work and what she was gonna do about him.

She needed to make sure that he was afraid to go against her and wouldn't run off and tell his bosses about her, thereby ending her before she'd even have a chance to accomplish _anything_. Then the Kingpin would surely make her pay.

But even if she managed to get him on her side, what would her next move be? Sally argued that they should just get as much evidence as possible and then go straight to the police, but Cindy had this uneasy feeling that the Kingpin and his wall of lawyers would merely get a scratch and then be more pissed off than ever.

"First of all we've got to find some dirt on your guy," Sally stated. "I'll take care of that. Then we let him know that he has two options: either he help us out with the information we need, or we'll turn him in. Of course he'll go with the first option," she made a rolling hand gesture, "and tell us what their plan is. Then we'll know how to proceed."

"And what if he doesn't know their plan?" Cindy argued back, rolling her eyes. She had jumped up on the metal fence surrounding the football field and was currently looking down at her friend. "The guys he met with made it very clear that they aren't so chatty about that certain topic."

Sally stared at her for a moment.

"For fuck's sake, Cindy, get off the damn fence!" Cindy grimached but followed her friend's command. Despite Sally being all excited about chasing bad guys it would take her quite some time to cope with her new abilities.

As they sat down on a bench to wait for their train, Sally fished up her laptop. She quickly connected to her own portable network before starting to tap the keys like rain on a windowsill. Every now and again she would ask some questions, like what the guy's name was, what he looked like, if she knew in which sector he worked in. She continued onto the train and after about fifteen minutes she snapped her fingers and looked up with a smug smile.

"Okay, so his full name is Martin Everett Nighy, he was born in Long Island in 1989. His family is full of lawyers, both his dad, brother and his sister work for a big New York based agency and his mom has worked as a dancer on a bunch of broadway plays. Apparantly he's a succer for gambling and he lost some big money a couple of years back, and he was refused a loan two years ago."

"How can you know all this?" Cindy hissed in a high pitched voice as she snatched the computer from her friend's lap. It was really strange: it looked just like a normal website, except that it had a bunch of bars filled with codes on the sides and something that she couldn't put her finger on.

Sally yanked it back. "I found his bank," she stated simply before continuing. "According to some local newsletters, his family inherited a lot of money from some deceased relatives, but refused to give… uh… _Martin_ his share. I guess they were scared he'd just squander it all in Vegas or something. About a year later they cut him off completely." She noticed the quirked brow Cindy was giving her and rolled her eyes. "I hacked his email, okay? I found it on facebook and his password was 'rocky123' after his old dog. I barely had to do anything."

"Okay, this is great." Cindy threw her arms out and scratched her forehead. She'd never imagined finding out all this information. No chance in hell she would have gotten it without Sally. "But apart from gambling debts, do we have anything we can use to blackmail him?"

"I haven't even told you half of it yet, this is some kooky dude we're dealing with. At his high school he was given all these rewards for computer related stuff – coding and such – and although he wasn't on many teams and got in detention a bunch he graduated at the top of his class and went to Northwestern to study engineering."

The doors opened and a few dropped into the subway cart. Cindy's thoughts flew about her mind like ping pong balls.

"It's strange…" Sally muttered with a deep frown. "He actually was quite lousy according to his teacher's notes, there's no way he should have gotten into Northwestern. But his record is… _Oh my God_!"

"What? What?" Cindy nearly stood in her seat out of curiosity and her friend looked up at her with wide eyes.

"What if he changed his own records?"

"You can do that?" Cindy gaped.

"No… Well, _yeah_. But it's not that simple. I couldn't do it. He really had to know his way around it."

Cindy almost stood again and held out her hands palms-up, "That's why the Kingpin wants him! Last night I heard his men say "_with your background, getting access to the documents should be no problem"_ – it makes sense!" The corner of Sally's mouth twitched into a wicked smile.

"Brilliant." She tapped her computer keys for a few more seconds. "He does have a few police records on vandalization, two student bars and a deli store. Based on the shady ass messages he's gotten he was pressured into doing it. He owed them money. Most likely they could pressure him into a bunch of other stuff too." Sally looked up, looking at Cindy with a calculative expression on her face. "He's their guy to spare – if someone finds out about anything that's happened, he's the one who'll go down. He started working at Oscorp a few months back, maybe he was planted there?"

"Jeez." Cindy didn't know what to say. In just a few minutes she had basically learned his life story. All that was missing was his love life, and that she _really_ didn't need to know. "I guess we have it, then. If we can make some clear connections about what he's done and who it's connected to then he pretty much has no reason to betray us."

"Yup," Sally smacked her lips and closed her laptop. "Do you have your suit?"

"What?" she whispered and quirked a brow in her direction. Sally just rolled her eyes.

"Your suit, do you have it with you?"

"Yeah, it's in the bottom." She gently patted the bag in her lap and blushed slightly.

"Then let's head to Oscorp!" Sally chimed a little too loudly and a few people looked their way. Cindy gave her 'the look'. "There's no reason we should wait," she argued, "he could his superiors on you at any moment. We have to get to him first! He probably has a different phone to communicate with them – I couldn't find anything _too_ strange on his phone. You have to get the ID-number so I can hack it, then we know exactly what he's telling them and where he is."

Cindy threw her arms out her sides before burying her face in a hand. "Why don't you just hack the Kingpin himself? Can't you get into his system?"

"Cindy, are you out of your mind? Even if I _try_ I'm sure he has some firewall that will alert him of me and then we're screwed before we've even gotten started." She leaned a bit forward and looked deep into her eyes. "If you wanna help your dad, then we have to do this. It's the only way."

Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

Sally was right. She had to do this. She had to try. For her dad.

"Okay, let's do this."

* * *

Annoying, unexpected, buzzing noises was one of the worst things Cindy knew, and now she had a static piece in her ear willingly. Or, well, '_willingly'_.

"_Cin, can you hear me? Cin?"_

"Yeah yeah, I hear you! I swear to God it will be the last that I _do_ hear," she muttered back grumpily.

Sally had insisted on them stopping by a few tech stores to purchase two earpieces, a small mic for bugging (if they would ever need to), a tiny and portable camera, and – because apparently there was no discussion considering this – a pair of dark green binoculars.

"_Well what do you see then?"_ Sally replied a bit annoyed. She was currently hiding out in a park on the other side of the road, opposite to the Oscorp building, freezing her butt off while Cindy balanced on the rooftop, peeking out to see who came and left. They had been there for forty minutes already.

"How do we know he hasn't left already?" Cindy sighed. Despite superpowers and all that jazz the tips of her fingers and ears had started to turn rather blue.

"_No, according to his schedule he didn't finish until half an hour ago."_

"He could still have left earlier," she muttered back and as she did so, she spotted a familiar short man exiting the glass doors. "Hey, I see him!"

"_You- Come on then! Go, go!"_

"Calm down…"

Without making a sound, Cindy gently slid down from the tilted roof and secured a string of web to the wall as she swiftly leaped into the air. She swung down like a falling leaf, soft and unnoticable, until her feet landed lightly on the ground, just a couple of feet behind Martin.

Time to put their plan into action.

"Martin." Her voice wasn't loud but he still jumped, placing a hand over his heart. The surprise in his wide eyes revealed that he thought she had been an empty threat – she had insisted that she would call him during the day but that had gone to hell. "I need to talk to you."

The man turned on the spot and started to run, but it was in vain as Cindy caught both his wrist and his ankle with tough web.

"_Yeah that's right, don't go easy on him!"_ she heard Sally cheer on in the ear piece. She must be following them from afar with her binoculars.

"I can't hurt him," she hissed back while dragging him around a corner. He floundered around on the ground and started calling for help, but she was quick to show him her hand and he shut up, understanding that if he didn't shut his mouth himself, she would do it for him.

She released him somewhat and motioned for him to stand, only to web his left hand against the brick wall. He looked like he was gonna shit himself.

"So, it's time for you to fulfill your end of the deal, Martin," she began and placed her hands on her hips, only to cross them in front of her instead – it made her feel too imperious. She could tell from the look in his eyes that he was calculating something.

He swallowed the lump of fear in his throat and straightened himself a little. He even dared to flash her a smile.

"There's no way that video is gonna hold up in court, or whatever you think you're gonna do with it. You have nothing on me." He smiled, showing off his clearly whitened teeth.

"Yeah, Martin, about that…" Something changed in his eyes, an uncertainty replaced the cockiness.

"_The gambling, his family cutting him off."_

"I know you've lost some pretty big amounts of money over the years. Now what's your kryptonite? Poker? Black Jack?"

"That's not a secret," he muttered, wondering where she was going with this.

"Sure, but what happened after your parents cut you off is." His eyes widened slightly. "Now, as far as I've understood…"

"_He hacked his way into college, took a big loan from some shady men, have been working for even shadier men ever since. He's pretty much been everyone's bitch."_

Jeez, Sally was really worked up about this.

"You hacked your own high school records and thereby got into a prestiged college, and later on took a _very_ unauthorized loan that you couldn't pay back, resulting in you having to work for the Kingpin, among other names. And that's what I've found out in one afternoon." Technically _she_ hadn't found out about it…

His gaze flickered to anywhere but her as he corrected his glasses with his free hand.

"And do you have any evidence that supports those claims?" he asked, his voice very put together despite his bloodshot eyes and twitching lip.

"I'm fairly sure of that." She could hear Sally swear in her ear. She thought she was appearing weak. "I guess it's up to you to take that risk, isn't it?"

Martin stared at the ground for a moment, considering his options. Eventually he looked up at her.

"And what is it that you want from me?"

"I want you to help me stop the Kingpin from getting Oscorp's files. I know he wants to implement their gene manipulation to advance the weapon industry, or something in that zone, it's not some charity work that's for sure." She was talking too much. "And I can't have that." Cindy stopped and looked him straight in the eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. The man spat on the ground and corrected his glasses again.

"If he wants them then he'll get them, whether it's through me or through someone else." The look in his eyes was genuine and Cindy believed him. She shrugged heavily, like she was carrying a backpack filled with bricks.

"Then you have to help me stop him."

Martin laughed so loudly that she jumped a little, her heart immediately falling into a quicker pace. She noticed that he tried to pull his hand out of her webbing (even if it was pointless).

"There's no stopping the Kingpin – you _can't_. And I'm not gonna let you drag me down with you," he snorted and looked at her down his nose.

Something warm, tingling, and energetic began to vibrate within her like a fire, raging up her spine.

She strode up to him in a few quick steps until their faces were only inches apart. Her teeth were clenched so tight that it almost hurt.

"If you don't help me, I will make very sure to let everyone know exactly what you have done and take you down _tonight_." She punched a fist into the wall next to his head and he flinched as it crumbled into dust that fell down on his shoulder. "So for all I care, refuse to help me, I'll find someone else who will!" She picked up the lid of a metal bin and tore it into two halves.

She saw her own reflection in his wide, fearful eyes.

"_Yikes Cin…"_ she heard Sally mumble in her ear.

"I- I- Okay…" He swallowed in defeat. "I'll help you, but you can't let anyone know I have had anything to do with you." She nodded.

"Deal."

Her heart skipped a beat. She had made it! Or, well, technically she had a _long_ way left to go but she was over that first bump in the road. Or, well, technically- _Jeez_ she really had to stop with those "_technically"_!

She had a plan, she had her best friend on her side, and she had the Kingpin's mole.

"So, what do you want me to do?" he shrugged, looking on the brink of exhaustion.

"I need you to tell me where he is."

"Only a few people know where and who he is, and I'm not one of them." Cindy groaned and rolled her eyes. Was he going to be helpful at all? "But I know there'll be a meeting in a few days, on sunday."

A tingling feeling washed over Cindy's body, like a stormy wave over a graveled shore. She was ready.

Sunday. Two days away. She would have a lot of time to prepare. And she really had to do some homework…

* * *

**Hmm, wonder who she'll do her homework with…**

**Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review and tell me what you think, it really warms my heart to hear from you guys :) Before I let you go, however, here are some incorrect quotes!**

Interviewer: Can you describe yourself with one word?  
Sally: Indescribable.****

**I am soo glad that Sally finally knows, it's gonna be so much easier to move the story forwards now that I can have some dialogue!**

Cindy: When I was little–  
Sally: Pfft "_was"_**__**

**I think you deserve a bunch of these for having to wait so long for lazy me to publish...**

Peter: Wow, this soup has absolutely no taste.

Cindy: I'm boiling water.****

**I love these so much and ****_still_****, the original idea is from Scrapingskies.**

Cindy: I had _nothing_ to do with it.

Cindy: Okay it was my idea but I feel bad about it.****

**Until next time, take care of yourselves!**


	14. Chapter 13

**Oh. My. God. I've written 3 600 words today. My brain's toast right now. **

**This was a wonderful chapter to write, lots of interaction with Peter and Cindy but also a lot of action (I finally get to write proper action!) so I think y'all are gonna like it. It's really late right now so I'm gonna finish off – my eyes almost fell out of my eyes while proof reading so sorry for any mistakes.**

**Big thanks to angela18ange, MarbariQueen, sparky1201, valxra, AureliaPhoenixAnastasia, Isabelnecessaryonabicycle, yvettema, ItsAUsername, slayst, NickysButterfly, Darkillachan, Broken Requiem, Discard205, MedicusAestus, AccelBreaker, and Notary Sojac for following, favoriting, and reviewing. Love you guys and welcome to all you new ones!**

* * *

"_Hi, Peter, it's Cindy. Turns out I'm free tomorrow, so if you still wanna watch the movie then maybe we can get together? I thought that maybe we could finish the summary – it would be nice to get it done before next week… If you're still up for it, of course. So… Text me when you get this. Bye."_

That was the voice message that had led up to Peter sitting in Cindy's livingroom at three p.m. on a saturday afternoon. Her mother had put out some store bought lemon cake for them along with a pot of korean tea. She could tell from the way Peter wrinkled his nose while he drank it that he wasn't a big fan, but he politely sipped his beverage without complaining.

It had taken him about fifteen minutes to text her back after she left him the message, saying that he was free and could come by. He had brought the dvd disc with him.

"So," he clapped his hands together and looked at her, eyebrows slightly raised. "Should we get started?"

They were seated in the downstairs living room in the couch that her mother had decorated with _way_ too many pillows. "_There's barely any room to sit!"_ Cindy would argue, only to be replied with "_It looks nice"_.

"Yeah." Cindy nodded and started digging in her bag for a notebook. In the bottom of it she found the small one she used for homeworks. "Do you have any notes from the first time you watched it?" She continued to search for a pen – a red ballpoint pen, she preferred them the best – but just couldn't find one. That was until one appeared right under her nose. Peter offered it to her with a wry smile.

"You always use the red ones," he mused softly. Their eyes locked for a few seconds while a gentle smile formed on Cindy's lips. She thanked him but he just shrugged it off. "I wrote down a few things, but thought that I'd save most of it for today. So we're on the same page."

Cindy snapped out of her momentary enchantment and nodded, scribbling down the movie's title with her neat handwriting.

"A-ha," she hummed absentmindedly, dividing her page into two columns – one for plot and one for things they could use in their analysis. God, it felt good to get all this Kingpin-stuff out of her head and focus on something ordinary, something she could really dig into and wrap around her mind. "If we start with watching the movie and then read up on the play – I got it from the library earlier today – and then we can write a short synopsis of them both, the major differences and resemblances and such. The _West Side Story_ premieres next week so I've pre-booked tickets for us."

God, how she talked. _I need to shut up_, she thought to herself. But Peter's face showed nothing but interest and focus.

"Perfect!" he smiled and leaned back, picking up the remote control. "Should we get started?"

Beatrice's rich voice of warm honey along with the soft music filled the air between them as the rain began falling outside the windows, adding a gentle tapping sound to the atmosphere.

"_Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more. _

_Men were deceivers ever, _

_One foot in sea, and one on shore,_

_To one thing constant never, _

_Then sigh not so, but let them go,_

_And be you blithe and bonny,_

_Converting all your sounds of woe, _

_Into hey nonny, nonny!"_

A wave of relaxation washed over Cindy. She knew from this instant that she would love this movie.

The minutes passed by slowly but not boringly. Cindy scribbled down a few notes and every once in a while Peter would lean in closer to her and mumble a comment, his breath warming her ear in the process and a hint of rose-scented soap would hit her.

Peter scribbled down a few things as well but mostly seemed to be enjoying the film. His favorite part seemed to be when the grumpy and stubborn Beatrice and Benedick – who all but loathed each other – were matched together by their friends. He pointed out how ironic it was that the two people who were most against relationships ended up falling for each other. That the resentment between them in reality was just passion.

"Sure, but it's very predictable that the two of them will get together," Cindy pointed out. She rolled her eyes and leaned back a little in the couch, giving him a friendly smile. Her arms were crossed in front of her at this point and for the first time in two weeks, her body actually relaxed when she exhaled. The two teenagers' shoulders were slightly slumped against each other and even though they were both wearing sweatshirts, Cindy could feel the heat radiating off of him.

"But this was written before all the cliché rom-coms," he argued back, pulling up his shoulders to the tips of his ears. "It's sweet."

"Whatever you say, Parker." She nudged him slightly and buried the back of her head in the velvety couch. Despite having thrown most of the decorative pillows on the floor they were still overwhelming, chafing and tickling.

She closed her eyes only for a moment and let herself sink deeper into the cushions. The bright and melodic voices soothed her. Last night she had gone to her material arts class as planned and despite being ridiculously strong she had been rather exhausted from all the kicks and punches they'd practiced, and on top of that she had spent half the night working out a plan for tomorrow with Sally – bless her.

Then A.J. had woken her up at 6 a.m. by jumping onto her bed, a course of action that had caused her to almost throw him out the window by surprize. A few seconds later she was still close to throwing him out the window, but for different reasons…

Without noticing, her jaw slacked a little and her neck relaxed somewhat.

She'd spent the whole morning in the library, finishing off some physics and history assignments as well as borrowing the Shakespeare plays she and Peter were going to use for their English class. It was crazy how much her schoolwork had been affected by her whole Silk-business, she really needed to step her game up. Both her maths and physics grades were starting to (wiggle) at this point so despite spending most of the day studying, she would have to spend the evening and probably tomorrow studying as well. She couldn't do any 'charity' work any longer, not if she wanted to keep her grades from falling, only things that would help with her dad.

A paralysing feeling appeared in Cindy's abdomen by just thinking about tomorrow's meeting. She couldn't mess it up, it might be the only chance she'd have.

A hint of rose tingled it's way into her nose. Cindy liked roses. Her mom always bought the yellow ones but Cindy liked the baby pink ones the best. She imagined standing on a field, with pink flowers as far as the eye could see and a sky as blue as the mailbox outside the post office. With a warming sun and birds that chirped in the distance. Being barefoot and feeling the soil chafing between her toes.

She took a deep breath.

Ah, roses.

"_Are you awake?"_

The question was asked so softly that she almost didn't hear it. If it hadn't been for her super-hearing then she would probably have slept through it.

Cindy blinked and covered her mouth with a hand as she yawned. She realized her cheek was throbbing slightly from being squished against something hard.

What the heck?

"Huh," she groaned, readjusting her head just a little bit and realizing it was indeed chafing on something hard and quite pointy. Tilting her head just a little bit more she opened her eyes and found Peter's warm eyes looking down into hers, only three inches away, and a crooked smile played on his lips. She was resting on his shoulder.

"Oh my- I'm sorry," she blurted drowsily and straightened herself so fast she would have been dizzy if it hadn't been for her powers, scooching a fair amount of space away from him. Her cheeks burned like crazy and her eyes focused on her hands instead of at him. She had freaking fallen asleep on his shoulder. Oh God, please don't say she'd drooled!

He smiled down at his arms, which were crossed in front of him. "No worries. It's fine."

The silence between them that followed was excruciating for Cindy's part. Peter had paused the movie when checking up on her so there was nothing to focus on and neither of them really looked at one another. She glimpsed at his shoulder and found – to her relief – that there was no drool-stain.

"How much did I miss?" Cindy asked awkwardly and brushed a few strings of short hair out of her face, still refusing to look at him. Peter scratched a spot behind his ear.

"I'm not sure," he shrugged. God, how stupid she was – what did she think, that he would have seen her sleeping and just watched her for a while? And now _he_ thought that _she_ thought that. _Sigh_. "What's the last thing you remember?"

She thought for a moment, still feeling rather drowsy. "Uh, Benedick was holding Claudio against a wall, I think."

"That was like ten minutes ago, so you haven't missed that much. Should I rewind?" He looked at her with pursed lips. He didn't seem to be annoyed with her for falling asleep. "Or do you want us to take a break?"

"No no," she waved with her hands, "I just didn't sleep that much tonight. I'm fine." Peter snorted a little, shaking his head minutely.

"Yeah, I haven't gotten that much sleep lately either," he mumbled and rubbed his hand over his features and it wasn't until just then that she noticed the grey spots below his eyes. Now that she thought about it he actually looked really drained..

"We can rewind, if you're okay with it," Cindy spoke up and changed the subject – she really didn't need him to start asking questions, being a good liar clearly wasn't one of her qualities – and the two teens continued watching the last half hour of the movie, even though she couldn't quite concentrate as well as earlier. Her eyelids still felt heavy.

Eventually, the music played, the characters danced, and the camera zoomed out; Hero had her Claudio, Benedick had his Beatrice, and the rumor had been sorted out and it had all – as the title revealed – been a lot of fuss about nothing really. Cindy had filled about three pages with notes and was ready to start composing their summary. Of course she'd have to read the script of the original play as well but she figured they'd do that separately. The awkwardness from earlier still hung in the air.

"So," she began, flipping through the pages. "We should probably start off with an intro, continuing with a brief abstract of the original play and then follow up with the movie, and a short description of the similarities and differences." She was absent-mindedly tapping the end of her pencil against her bottom lip. "Now, if we both read up on the play tonight we can write in a shared document tomorrow, maybe?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," Peter agreed and straightened himself a little, skimming through his notes while Cindy took up her laptop and started typing.

Peter had brought a laptop as well – a clunky, old thing he had found in a dumpster and repaired himself – which took about five minutes to start. They exchanged notes, went over a few things, and then started typing in a shared document.

In about an hour they managed to finish most of the summary and even had some time to go over the beginning of the original script. When their fingers and eyes started to grow tired they took a moment to sit back and stuff their mouths with lemon cake. The air between them was more casual now.

"Hey Olivia gave me a message for you," Cindy mumbled between bites. "She wasn't very happy." Peter's face faded two nuances.

"Ehm- you, you… What did she say?" He crossed his arms in front of him and dropped his shoulders in an attempt to appear casual but failed miserably, his eyes were practically radiating panic. Cindy wrinkled her nose and looked down at the pastries.

"Well…"

Peter just groaned and let his head fall back. "I'm toast."

"Well, to put it kindly, _yes_." She wasn't planning on telling him that she had skipped practice too. At least not unless he asked. "Peter," she said more seriously and glanced at him, "you've missed practice three times now, what's going on?" She realised they weren't that close, but she could still _ask_.

The boy in front of her bit his lower lip and brushed his hands over his eyes, letting them continue through his hair.

"It's just some school stuff," he shrugged and looked down. "I just have to get my act together." Cindy quirked a brow.

"Doesn't decathlon practice qualify as "_school-stuff"_?" She didn't wanna be too pushy but she was still curious. Peter looked at her the way a puppy looks at you when it's done something it's not supposed to. This was something big.

"Look," he began, giving a gesture with his hand, "lately I've been feeling a bit… Not like myself. Or, I-" He shrugged. "It's hard to explain. I just have to figure some stuff out. I promise I won't skip it anymore, it's not a good excuse to let you guys down." His cheeks turned slightly pink, as if someone had pinched him. "To let you down."

For some reason that sentence caused her heart to flutter like a butterfly. Just for a second.

"I- No it's fine it's-" she kept shaking her head, "We all go through things like that and it- It's okay. I get it, _believe me_. I'm going through something similar right now." She chewed on the inside of her cheek, crossing her arms. She noticed Peter watching her with curiosity.

"Really?"

The girl shrugged. "Yeah, it's the, eh, neighbourhood-project I told you about. It's…" She considered her words carefully before continuing, "It's taking a lot of time and is something I really have to do, but I'm struggling with balancing everything else. I haven't slept in like two weeks," she laughed in an attempt to brighten the mood a little but Peter wasn't fooled.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly, trying to catch her eyes.

"I'm fine." Cindy looked up at him with a smile plastered on her lips and blinked softly. "It's just like you said, I have to figure some stuff out."

Peter was quiet for a moment before speaking up.

"If you ever need to, we can figure it out together. I just mean, if you need to talk to someone."

"Yeah, you too. You're not alone." She looked up and found him smiling softly at her. Unable to hold it back she smiled back and looked down. The strands of hair that fell into her face were pushed back behind her hair, only to fall back down again.

"Here." It was only a whisper as Peter leaned forward and held out his hand toward her, gently drawing back her hair with his index finger. It brushed against her cheek, making it tingle, but lingered for a moment.

She looked up and found Peter's eyes on hers, all warm and fudgy, barely a foot away. His lips were slightly parted.

For a moment they just looked into each other's eyes.

"Hurm," Peter cleared his throat and used the very same hand he'd touched her with to scratch a spot behind his ear. Even though he looked away he hadn't moved back. "So, do you think we should plan in some more study sessions next week? You know, to keep each other on track. We'll still have to work on Mr. Herman's assignment, it would be nice to get a head's start."

Cindy nodded quickly, looking anywhere but at him. "Yeah, that sounds good."

"What day is the play?"

"Next thursday".

"Right."

Once again, silence. Even though she'd told Sally her secret, Peter was the only one she had shared her genuine concerns with. There was something odd about that.

Cindy dared glancing at him, cheeks slightly flushed. He looked so different from what he had been a month or so back: his features were sharper, the few pimples that had been on his temples for the past couple of years were gone, and there was something else… Something she couldn't put her finger on. A confidence or an aura she'd never seen in him.

Peter turned his head slightly and upon finding her looking at him he smiled warmly. He leaned back into the couch, still close to her, and used the backrest to support his elbow, leaning his head on his hand. A force within Cindy's chest urged her to move a few inches closer.

God, _Peter_. He was kind, he was sympathetic, he was intelligent and funny. He'd been genuinely sorry for upsetting her, even though he'd been oblivious as to what he'd done. She knew now that she was ready to put that whole thing behind her.

Peter, with the warm eyes that glowed almost golden in sunlight, and a wry, mischievous smile that made her heart tingle. And he was sitting on her couch.

"I really like your hair," Peter mumbled with a goofy grin on his lips, his eyes darting over her hair, only to land back on her eyes. She felt that urge tugging her toward him again. Then there was another tingling feeling as well, only not as nice…

"How's it going? Have you finished yet?"

Even though she had seen it coming Cindy still jumped a little by surprize, smiling through clenched jaws.

"We just finished, dad," she replied with annoyance. Her fingers fiddled with one of the ends on a cushion. She'd done it so much over the years that it was almost ruined.

"So, Peter, are you staying for dinner? I'm making wok!" Cindy's father used the pair of chopsticks as a fencing sword as he mimicked sparring moves, one arm behind his back and all. Cindy buried her face in her hands but Peter just laughed.

"Thanks but I have to get back to May, I promised to help with dinner." Her father nodded.

"By the way, the two of you are welcome over next saturday. Since we had to cancel dinner, what was it, two weeks ago?" _Three_, Cindy thought. "Can you guys make it?"

"Oh." Her dad probably didn't notice, but Cindy found something calculative in Peter's eyes along with disappointment. "Yeah I think we can. I'll let her know."

"Great, see you next week then." Her dad used the chopsticks as drumsticks now to declare his way back into the kitchen. Dear God, no wonder A.J. was the way he was. She thought _she_ was supposed to be the kid.

"I'm sorry about him," Cindy groaned once he was gone and pinched the bridge of her nose. Peter just laughed.

"No I like your dad, he reminds me of Ben." Peter smiled to himself, looking down at his crossed arms as some memory played in his mind. "He really liked your dad."

Cindy didn't know how to respond. This was the first time she had heard him mention Ben since he passed away and she really didn't know how to respond. It felt like anything she'd say would be inappropriate.

"I guess I better go," Peter continued and started packing down his things. "May's not gonna stop calling if I'm not home on time." Cindy quirked a brow at him and upon noticing, Peter grimached. "I might have broken curfew a few times this week."

She shook her head at him, pulling back her short hair into a half-decent bun. "You're a wild man, Peter Parker."

* * *

"Well _that_ cloud looks like a duck. And that one looks like… A flower? Oh for God's sake who am I kidding – it's a pineapple."

Cindy was bored. Or rather, _Silk_ was bored. The newest addition to New York's superhero group was laying on her back on the roof of a parking house, fully dressed in her home-made suit. It was quite nice weather, not too cold. A bit windy. Can't complain when you can climb on walls though. The early sunset painted the clouds all yellow and pale blue.

"Aaand that one looks like a messed up butterfly."

The odd girl sat up and looked at her watch. The numbers "_17:31"_ beamed up at her. One of two things could be happening right now: either they were one minute late, or Martin had sold her out and she would have to kick his ass, if Sally didn't beat her to it.

She peeked over the edge of the building but the alley below was empty. She knew this, she would have heard if as much as a cat would have passed by.

"You can't trust gangsters these days," she muttered and shook her head only to tense up a fraction of a second later. Someone was whistling softly in the distance and heading toward her. No wait, there were three pairs of footsteps. She closed her eyes and listened.

The first pair were quite rapid and light, like the person in question was in a hurry and urging the other ones forward. They had a clicking noise to them meaning they had a short heel, but they were a bit too heavy to be a woman, Cindy figured.

The second pair were clearly a woman wearing high heels. Soft but determined.

The third pair were heavy and stubborn and clearly belonged to a man. No one would get past him and no one could force him to stop, he had no regard _how_ he got to the place he was going to as long as he got there. Cindy immediately thought of the russian guy she had seen a few nights ago.

"Shut it, Lionel, you're giving me a headache," a woman with a rich, slightly raspy voice. Cindy peeked over the edge of the building and found the three of them about thirty yards away and turns our she'd been right: two men and one woman. She recognized the two men from two nights ago, Mr. Handsome and Mr. Russian-guy, but the lady was new. She was very pretty with straight, dark hair that reached to her shoulders and high cheekbones that complemented her narrow eyes.

The handsome man – Lionel – did shut up but also pulled the woman to a halt by her waist and all but kissed the ruby red off her lips. "Is that better?" he smirked. The woman hit him on his upper arm but smiled.

"Move your arses," the russian man called over his shoulder, his accent thick. He was clearly not amused.

At this point Cindy pulled up a small gopro camera from the bag she had brought with her, this was Sally's idea. Record _everything_.

"Come on, they're not even here," Mr. Handsome argued and threw his arms out his sides, letting them hang in the air. The russian guy – who's name Cindy still didn't know – glanced at him over his shoulder before entering the parking house by a metal case on the side. The two lovebirds followed behind, Lionel with his hand on his girl on a very inappropriate place.

Jeeze.

Cindy heard them climbing up to the second level of the three story building and jumped down so that she was on the wall right outside. She could peek in through some teardrop-shaped holes in the wall so there was a low risk that they would notice her.

From where she was now she had a much better view of them.

Lionel she had seen before and he looked just as smart as the last time with his water-combed hair and cheekbones that could cut through glass. He was dressed in a grey coat over an also grey suit and she couldn't help but think that he might as well be on the run from a Downton Abbey set.

His girlfriend or wife or whatever was if possible even more gorgeous, even though her lipstick was slightly smooched. She was wearing a beige coat over an expensive grey shirt and white pants. Cindy noticed now that she had honey-brown eyes that seemed to shine despite being indoors.

Where the hell did the Kingpin find these people, the Victoria's secret after party?

Their russian friend, however, seemed to prove some two-out-of-three rule because despite being large and muscular, there was something about him that made Cindy's gut wrench. Maybe it was the long scar that reached from his eyebrow down to his upper lip.

Now, back to business.

Cindy knew they were here to meet up with some buyers of some sort, although Martin hadn't known exactly who or why. They were supposed to meet up around half past five, but he hadn't been too sure about that either. What he had known was that they had an important part to play in this whole cardhouse that was the Kingpin's plan and that it they couldn't get a deal then there was pretty much no reason for him to want Oscorp's information. Meaning her dad would go free.

"Babe do you have a ciggy?" the woman asked and turned to Lionel who opened his coat to dig through his inner pocket, taking out a pack and lighter. She gave him a smooch before bringing the white cylinder up to her lips and setting it on fire, before passing it on to the russian guy.

"Alexei?" she asked but he shook his head.

"Those are for pussies," he laughed grimly and the other two snickered along, even though the lady threw the things at him. He just tossed them back to his friend.

"_Fuck_ why are they so late?" she complained and looked down at her expensive watch. "If they don't show up soon I don't know what I'll do," she continued in a calm voice and raised a brow, taking another drag of the cigarette as the two men snickered. There was something deadly about that woman, Cindy realized now.

"Poor bastards," Alexei muttered and spat on the ground. "Won't stand a chance." He sniggered to himself but stopped upon receiving a sharp look from her.

"Come on, Kitty-cat, it was joke," Lionel mused and wrapped an arm around his girl.

"Don't call me that." Kitty took a step to the side and turned around a little, in Cindy's direction. Luckily, her senses warned her in time and she managed to duck before being seen. "You know I don't like it."

"Sorry, babe. I'm sure they'll be here soon."

The sound of her heels faded and Cindy realized she'd gone back to her colleagues. Cindy's head popped back up again.

"Of course they will. They need the particle to rise again," Kitty replied coolly. "They owe us twenty million dollars. If they don't show up I will hunt them down and they know it."

God, Cindy thought, who the hell was this chick?

Before the three musketeers could continue their conversation the sound of screeching tires filled the air and it was so loud Cindy had to cover her eyes. Lucky her that her feet could stick onto the building.

The distant car continued its wild drive and the noise grew louder and louder, until finally a neat, black audi pulled around the corner and screeched to a stop just a few feet before hitting them. The driver must really have a live-fast-die-young attitude…

As the door to the driver's seat opened Cindy's body tensed up, she made sure to place the gopro in one of the holes so that she didn't have to fiddle with it but could instead focus on what was going on.

A tall, dark man clad in a smart, black attire stepped out of the driver's seat and moved toward the small group of three. A pair of pitch black glasses covered his eyes. Behind him three other men stepped out but it was clear that the man in the front was the one doing business.

"Miss," he greeted and held out a hand toward Kitty who calmly placed her hand in his, and smirked as he bent down to kiss it. Lionel didn't seem as amused.

"Ah, Mr. Kaiser," she greeted back and flashed him a bright smile. "For a moment there I believed you weren't showing up." The man licked his upper lip, a move that didn't exactly radiate confidence.

"Just some traffic issues, I assure," he replied and placed his hands in his front pockets. "I wouldn't miss seeing you for the world." His grin was just as bright as hers.

For a moment they were all just staring at each other, waiting for the other one's move. Finally, Kitty laughed out loud.

"Of course." She flicked her hair and tilted her head in a challenging manner. "I assume you have the money?"

"Yes, of course, Miss," the tall man replied. He snapped with his fingers and one of the guys behind him walked up with a metal case and handed it over to him. "And, with all due respect, I expect you have the information promised? Are you close?"

"Unfortunately we have been delayed, but the prints will soon be in our hands." Her smile was sweet but her gaze could have cut through lead. "Next time I assure you that we will have-"

"_Hey I told you to stop!"_

A voice – more soft than sharp – cut through the air and echoed between the stone walls. Everyone looked in the direction the voice had come from.

Kitty, Mr. Handsome, and Alexei shared a look of suspicion and confusion, while Mr. Kaiser and his company stared down the parking lots in fright. Cindy looked as well, her eyebrows so high up on her forehead that they almost disappeared into her hair.

A small figure dressed in red and blue appeared out of nowhere, jumping up from the space where the cars drove up to this level, about one hundred yards away. They shot out some kind of rope that attached to the roof and swung forward. _What the-_

"Fuck!" the dark man swore and all but dove into the car, his men copying his move.

Cindy reacted instantly and jumped up onto the railing, one hand on the stone below her and the other ready to shoot out web. In the chaos, no one had noticed her.

Shit. Shit shit _shit_! She had worked so hard to get her and get all this information and here this guy came along and screwed it all up!

Both Lionel and Alexei had taken a few steps backwards, the latter one had pulled out a gun, but Kitty stood like a rooted tree, staring holes into the red-and-blue thing. Cindy watched the person swing closer and closer as the audi shot backwards like a rocket and spun around like you see in action movies. All of the sudden the swinging person seemed to slip or something and headed straight into a pillar, missing the raging car with inches.

"Hey!" they shouted and shot out that rope again, attaching it to the back of the car and being tugged after with a regretful "_oh!"_ and ending up being dragged along the ground.

Now that's it!

Without thinking twice Cindy shot out a whole bunch of sticky web that caught on the person's back and pulled them backwards. They couldn't ruin this for her, they just couldn't! If they were to harm or turn in the buyers then she'd never stop the Kingpin!

"Come on!" Cindy heard Lionel yell and from the corner of her eye she noticed him grab hold of Kittys arm and pulling her away from the fight. She had to let them go, this she knew.

The teenage girl darted forwards towards the person now laying on the ground. When she was just a few yards away they looked up and upon seeing her coming at them they jumped up at the ceiling, grabbed on with their hands and swung their whole body attempting to kick her.

Now, Cindy's Silk-sense might go off like a crazy alarm at a fly or a person coughing or whatever, but in a fight it was sure as hell there for her.

She smoothly slid under the person and grabbed one of their legs, pulling them down into the ground and was just about to wbb them stuck as they rolled over and shot up into the roof again. The two of them were completely alone now, all the other bad guys had left. This one, however, she would turn in to the police with pleasure.

"Who are you?" she yelled at the _thing_ crawling on the roof like a fly, annoyingly jumping from side to side. Instead of replying they shot a string of rope at her – which she obviously avoided – and she realized that it wasn't rope, it was web. "Who _are_ you?" she demanded again through clenched teeth.

"Who are _you_!" the person yelled back before jumping at her. Despite Cindy's quick reflexes this was a bit too fast for her and she was thrown against the ground, landing headfirst. Without missing a beat she used the momentum to continue backwards in a roll and using her feet to kick him off once her shoulder blades was the only part of her touching the ground.

They person hurtled through the air and fell upside-down straight into a car so hard that it was pushed into the next standing vehicle.

"I am Silk!" Cindy screamed at them while scrambling to her feet. Her head was aching, her butt as well, and her hair was completely messed up.

"I thought you were good," the person in front of her panted in a high-pitched voice, standing on all fours. She couldn't quite place the voice, either it had to be quite a rough girl or a younger man. In a way it was oddly familiar.

"I am good," Cindy grunted as she lurched forwards, "at kicking your butt!"

The person had barely gotten to their feet when Cindy planted a fierce kick in their side, just below their ribs, that she had learned the previous night. Signing up for that class was the best decision ever.

Once again she tried to web them up, this time against a pillar but they jumped up into the ceiling again and fired their own webs at her. One caught her ankle and stuck her foot to the ground, but she could easily rip it off. It wasn't at all like her own.

Upon realizing this the person dropped to the ground and advanced to hand to hand combat, swinging his fists at her. For each punch she had to take a step backwards to avoid it until she found a good moment to much back at their unprotected chest. It worked once. It didn't work twice. Her hands were caught in a death-grip. Whoever this person was they were clearly stronger than her.

She was spun around and pushed into their chest as their arms locked around her like chains. She tried to wiggle out of it, even step on his feet and pushing him off but nothing worked. Every curse word she had ever heard rolled through her mind and in the middle of it all her sensed picked up something new, the smell of roses. They had to be close to a florist.

Adrenaline pumped through Cindy's veins and something she'd seen on tv not too long ago popped into her head.

Leaning her head forwards as much as she could she gathered force to smash it backwards and straight into their nose. She heard the person groan loudly and felt something warm and sticky in her hair – blood. The distraction caused the grip around Cindy to loosen up only for a second but it was all she needed to break free. Twirling around she grabbed hold to the person's upper arm and collar – like she'd learned in class – and threw them out an opening in the wall – something she _hadn't _learned in class.

They fell with a slightly panicked inhale and Cindy jumped after, landing in a cat-like position on the railing. The red-and-blue figure climbed swiftly up a wall before jumping over to the opposite one and Cindy jumped after. For a few moments all they did was jumping after each other in a bizzare game of tag until – finally – Cindy managed to kick them in the gut so hard that they were thrown back-first into the wall. Without missing a beat she quickly covered their hands and feet with web, before continuing with their legs and abdomen.

She had won. She had actually won!

"Hey!" the person in front of her exclaimed nervously.

She jumped across the alleyway to the wall she had caught her fly on and walked up to them, leaning forward so their faces were just inches apart. Her dark eyes stared into what looked like two black bottle caps with white paper glued onto them.

"You have no idea how much I hate you," she groaned, shaking her head. For a second she actually considered punching them across the face but decided against it. "Now, let's see who you are."

"No, please no-no-no-"

Cindy grabbed hold of the end of the red mask and pulled it over her head and nearly crapped herself.

In the fraction of a second her legs paralyzed and she jumped backwards, grabbing onto the wall behind her. The mask had fallen to the ground below.

Fudgy, panicked eyes stared at her.

"Please, get me out of this, _please_!" The panic in Peter's voice cut through her heart like a knife.

What the hell- _What the actual hell_ was he doing? No, she had to be drugged or something, this couldn't be real.

But she wasn't, and it was.

"I promise," Peter pled, "let me go and I won't come after you."

"P- Peter?" It was just a faint whisper but he heard it. His whole body tensed and the alarm on his features doubled.

"Wha- Wha… How…" He really couldn't find his words. "How do…"

Slowly, Cindy reached up her hand to her face, letting her fingers brush against her cheek. She carefully let the tip of her index finger slide underneath her mask and slowly pulled it down. Soon enough, it was hanging around her neck. Peter's eyes widened.

"_Cindy_?"

* * *

**And there we go! Not-so-secret identities any longer! What are their reactions to one another? Will Peter help her with taking down the Kingpin? Why is Cindy so obsessed with roses? Soo many questions and maybe you have more: just hit me!**

**I am SO excited because while writing this, I realized I can implement a character from the comics that's gonna be awesome, and the character was actually hinted in this chapter! Obviously not Spider-man… Please share you're guesses with me, it would be so cool if some hardcore fans managed to figure it out :D**

**Also, don't forget that I frequently update in my profile how far I've gotten with the next chapter, so if you're ever curious, just take a look there. Now some incorrect quotes before I fall of this chair and fall asleep on the floor… **

Sally: We're so in sync we finish each other's–  
Cindy: Sentences!  
Sally: Bitch don't interrupt me.

**I am sooo tired right now.**

Peter: If we're not careful this will be the death of us, or worse…

Cindy: Worse?

Cindy: Double-death?

**This one's from Modern Family, I love that show so much my heart aches.**

Ned: Peter's the worst at texting.

Peter: What are you talking about? I know everything there is to know.

Peter: LOL: laughing out loud. OMG: oh my god. WTF: why the face.

**Now! Goodnight/morning everybody, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**Don't forget to leave a review, love y'all X**


	15. Chapter 14

**Yoo I'm back! Took a while to get this done but MAN did I have a big writer's block on this one, there's a Cinter scene that I really wanted to get done in a neat way and even though it took a while, I'm actually happy with the way it turned out. AND, as a few of you might have noticed, I've updated the cover image :)**

**Cleo9427: **yes FINALLY! Yeah I considered pushing it but decided against it – this way we'll have a lot more angsty-Cinter scenes ;)

**AccelBreaker: **Very good questions that only time can answer ;) Or, well, technically I could tell you, but that would ruin all the fun. And thank you for your concern, that's so sweet of you :) Actually I am doing just fine, I live in sweden and we're kind of low key in all of this madness, still able to go out and such without any problem, but me and my family has traveled to our summer house in the middle of nowhere so we're all fine and cut-off. Hope you are safe as well!

**Isabelnecessaryonabicycle: **Well, since this first "book" is going to be about 20-ish chapters it was about time :)

**SnuffleTruff: **Thank you so much for your review, it put a really big smile on my lips! :D Every once in a while I have a modern family marathon, but now my Netflix has removed the show so I'm kinda heartbroken. Any tips on other fun shows?

**Alice Gone Madd: **Right now she's wearing her own homemade suit (it will be upgraded later on) which is constructed by black leggings, a black long sleeve that has white stripes on the arms and a white front (kind of similar to her suit in the comics). And – of course – a red headband that she uses to cover her mouth and nose. Hope that made it clearer to you :)

**Hearteyesmf: **Haha not at all – I love hearing your thoughts! I do have a plan that I think I'm gonna stick to (since it would be a bit uncharacteristic for her to do something else) but reading your review I actually got a great idea for a one shot ;)

**Once again, so thankful for every single one of you, it makes me so happy to read your reviews and see you guys follow and favorite, a special thanks to PrettyRecklessLaura, MedicusAestus, writersblockasaperson, LexxSunday, MeganeAlpaca, Nina3KPop, GideonGoldTheDarkOne, Vivian Simone, Whoops250, Hammondc97, heichou, TheOneAndOnlyAwesomeGuy, cloudkid, skyreader18, Unni17, , desitdan, liveinasong13, sarah-14071999, Kuraikonechan, Padgent, Sonicfanoftheworld05, Miffybeth, ReadAthon45, gobstopper10 (wow so many of you!). Lots of love to you all, hope you're safe (at home reading fanfics) and that your families and friends are doing well!**

* * *

"I can't believe we were bit by the same spider." Cindy shook her head, brushing her fingers through her short hair. The two teenagers were currently sitting on the edge of a tall building, dangling their legs in the air above a busy street. The sun had almost settled now, painting the sky all peachy and golden, and a chilly breeze passed by, reminding them that the winter wasn't quite over yet.

The boy next to her scoffed lightly and fell backwards onto his back, letting his arms stretch out to the sides. "This is insane." He had gotten his mask back – he'd webbed it up from the ground once Cindy had gotten him out of all her webbing, which had not been an easy task – and was currently clenching it tightly in his fists.

A couple white birds flew past Cindy where she sat.

She couldn't believe this.

For the past few weeks she had been freaking out about being this sort of super-human and having to carry this big ass secret all on her own. It had felt like she was carrying a bomb in her backpack that could go off at any given moment, and she hadn't been able to tell _anyone_ about it. Even after telling Sally she had still felt lonely because despite standing by her side, she had no idea what it felt like. It had been a living hell and apparently, this whole time, Peter had been going through the very same thing.

"Cin?"

"Huh?" The girl peeked over her shoulder, an absent-minded expression on her face. Peter supported himself on his elbows in order to sit up and looked at her with sparkling eyes. He grinned at her and his chocolatey eyes were perfectly warm. She'd probably missed something he'd said.

"This is amazing! I mean," he pushed himself off the ground and landed on his feet, pacing the slightly graveled roof back and forth, "you have no idea how freaked out I was! Or, well, actually you do, and I haven't had anyone to talk to and May…" The boy sighed and let his head fall back. "God I hate lying to her."

Cindy didn't as much as hum along. Instead she continued staring down at the street, noticing how a few people had taken up their umbrellas. Most of them were colorful.

"And the worst part is that I haven't been able to share with anyone how awesome all this is! I mean, I can climb on walls! I can lift a car with my bare hands! By whole body's been dialed up to a hundred." Peter grinned to himself, looking down at his hands. "I've just had some trouble with my webbing. I've tried to create a decent formula but, as you noticed earlier, it's not that sticky. I should really revise it… Hey can you show me how yours- Cin?"

The girl in question couldn't have been less interested. Her hands were tied into hard fists and she really felt like hitting something.

"Hey Cindy, are you okay?" Peter's voice was softer now that he realized something was up with her and he ruffled his hair subconsciously.

Cindy looked up at the cloudy sky with a strained smile on her lips before spinning around so that she could look at him.

"I can't believe you're happy about all this." Her eyes were all glossy and a pained gleam revealed the hours of lacked sleep. It was also worth mentioning that she was still quite pissed about him getting in her way and chasing away her big lead to get to the Kingpin. God knows how long time it would take her to track them down again… Plus that now they knew there were someone after them.

Peter just blinked at her, clearly not being on the same page as she was.

"I just want everything to be normal. I don't want stupid powers and car chases and bad guys. I just want…" she threw her arms out her sides and looked back out over the street. "I want everything to go back to the way it was."

Despite Peter being as swift as a cat she could still hear his light footsteps coming towards her. A small drop of water landed on Cindy's hand. It didn't bother her.

Peter sat down by her side, glancing at her unsurely as a few wrinkles played on his forehead and in the space between his brows. "For the first week I spent all my time trying to figure out how to undo, this," he gestured to himself. "Finding some vaccine or something."

"Any luck?" Cindy smirked with an eye roll and he nudged her shoulder.

"My point is that I get you," he continued and threw a pebble across the roof, "but it is what it is. We might as well do the best with what's been given to us, you know?" She was a bit annoyed with how right he was but hummed agreeingly. He nudged her shoulder again, more playful this time. "Come on – you can shoot _web_ through your fingers, even I can't do that!"

Cindy's scoff turned into a soft laugh and she tilted her head at him, looking at the boy with a smile gleaming in her eyes. "It _is_ pretty cool," she admitted and he laughed.

"Show me," he urged kindly, looking at her the way a child looks at a christmas tree. He was clearly obsessed with this ability of hers to produce organic web on her own, a skill he obviously was jealous of. She still hadn't shown it to him yet outside of their fight, but when they had been taking turns in telling each other about their powers she had been surprised to find out that Peter lacked the gift. Although, he had his webslingers, which he still hadn't shown her and that she was really curious about.

She quirked a brow at the boy and held up her right hand, unable to wipe the smile off her face. Her fingers tensed and a string of white web shot out from every finger, right out into the air, and slowly swirled down toward the ground.

"I can do it with as many finger as I like," she bragged and held up both her hands a couple of feet apart from each other, shooting out a string from her index finger that landed in the palm of her other hand.

Peter didn't know what to do, he could barely contain himself.

"That is so cool!" he grinned, his hands open in the air. The excited boy held out an index finger and gently tapped the string, only to get stuck on it. "Do you think maybe I can get some? You know, to improve my own formula."

"Knock yourself out," Cindy shrugged. She really couldn't care less about the matter. "It's great if it can make things easier for you."

A few rays of warm sunshine landed on her nose. Maybe she would get her first freckles of the year? Her mom and A.J. never got freckles while her dad could go out for five minutes and then come in looking like a dalmatian, and she usually got a few ones as well, but only on her nose and cheeks.

The sun shone a little bit brighter, warming her whole face now, and she smiled. Honestly she felt a lot better now that Peter had cheered her up. If she had to share this spider-experience with someone, she was glad it was with him. She could do with a personal cheerleader to help her make the best of this shitty situation. Maybe she should let him in on the Kingpin?

Peter had told her a bit quickly that he'd been using his powers to help out in the neighborhood for a bit. You know, lifting down cats from trees, helping old ladies who nearly got their purses stolen, make sure kids didn't run into the streets – that sort of stuff. The reason he had run into her was because he had discovered the car with the Kingpin-byers speeding and running against a few red lights and had been meaning. God, how much would he flip out if he found out that he in fact had gotten himself into a meeting with the Kingpin's men?

A lot, probably.

Maybe she should let him in on it? Maybe he could help? It would be a lot easier to chase him down, but the risk was that he'd want to do it his way and that it would result in them screwing up.

But no, Peter wouldn't do that. This was concerning her dad, and she knew he'd do anything in his power to help him out. No way he would jeopardize it.

Jeeze, just the idea of two adrenaline-pumped super-teens who could shoot webs, climb walls, and sense anything coming their way – well, _she_ at least…

"Hey Peter?"

The boy looked up from the mess he had made with her one string – he'd managed to tangle up both his hands trying to undo himself – like he was in trouble or something; his eyes were big and round and his brows were halfway up his foreheads. Cindy giggled.

"Spider-question," she turned toward him and crossed her legs. "Do you ever get this certain… feeling when stuff's about to happen? Like, does your whole body tingle and-"

"It feels like I'm falling?" he interrupted with a wry smile on his lips. "Yeah, I do."

They took a moment to assimilate their shared abilities, both with shy smiles on their lips. The two of them were the only ones in the world with these kinds of enhanced senses and they probably ever would be. Unless Oscorp made another one of those gene-modified spiders…

"Doesn't it drive you crazy how it always…" she gestured with her hands in the air in front of her, "Flips out over practically nothing?" The boy blinked at her with a questioning quirk of the brow.

"No. I mean, it always warns me when something dangerous is about to happen, like when you threw that snowball at me," he explained and Cindy remembered. The girl in question frowned at him as he continued. "But apart from that I just get a slight tingle when something mildly alarming is about to happen, like when the coach's about to blow his whistle or when the school bell rings."

So, he seemed to have gotten the 'correct' version of the spider-sense while she had gotten the crappier malfunctioning one. Although, she could shoot web from her hands while he couldn't, so 1-1 to each of them she guessed.

"Mine goes off full-strength at nearly anything. The other day, Flash sneezed right behind me and I nearly jumped up at the roof," she confessed and Peter laughed so hard she for a moment thought he might fall off the building.

She pushed him playfully and he tried to hide the laugh by coughing gently himself. "Sorry," he giggled and took a few deep breaths before looking up at her with those sparkling eyes. "That must suck."

She snorted. "Yeah, it does. I swear, one of these days I will get coach Wilson's whistle and it won't be seen again."

"Just let me know if you need any help with that," Peter smirked and went back to looking down at the people on the streets hurrying as it started to pour more violently. They sat like that for a while, their shoulders almost touching.

"Sally knows," Cindy finally spoke up, breaking the silence. "About me. " Her hands squeezed the edge of the house so hard a few pieces crumbled into dust. This far she had been biting her tongue about that certain topic – she really didn't wanna get her friend into trouble, although telling Sally about her secret probably was going to get her into a hell of a lot more problem than telling Peter that she knew.

Her friend looked up at her with a surprised look on his face. "You told her?" Cindy assured him with a nod. A few moments passed where they just sat in silence, Cindy watching the beautiful sunset and Peter looking out over the roof, pondering. "Why?"

"What do you mean "_why"_?" Cindy retorted, furrowing her brows at him. "She's my best friend, and she figured I was lying to her about something." Now it was Cindy's turn to stand up and pace around the grounds, her arms crossed in front of her while she was rambling. Sally really had been supportive of her and this whole spider-thing, proving to her that she really was her best friend in the world. She sighed and drew her hand through her hair.

"But what are you gonna do if it gets out?" The concern in Peter's face was genuine; his brows pinching together over his big eyes and his whole body kind of leaned forward, his elbows leaning on his knees while his hands clutched the red mask. Cindy could tell he was having some sort of an internal squabble – he'd probably thought a lot about telling Ned himself.

The girl just shook her head. "It won't. She'd never do that to me. And I won't get her into any trouble."

Her schoolmate stared into space for a while.

"I can't tell May. And I can't tell Ned. I just can't do it." He looked so abject that she considered walking over to him and give his shoulder a squeeze or something. After a minute he looked up at her again and his features softened. "I'm glad you know, though. That we can talk about it."

She smiled back at him, her body relaxing somewhat. "I'm glad you know too. It's nice to have someone who really understand." There was something hesitant about him, however. "You wanna make sure I don't tell Sally about you." It was more of a statement than a question, but he nodded.

"No one can know it's me, that I'm him…" Peter shook his head and looked out over the city. "Everything will continue just like normal. School, band practice, May. I just help people out on the side."

Cindy nodded, she understood where he was getting at. He liked this spider-man thing, it made him feel like a hero, but he wanted a normal life too.

"I won't tell her," she promised, although her gut wrenched as she did so – she'd had enough of this secret-keeping stuff for a lifetime.

Peter sighed and relaxed a bit. He scrambled to his feet and was by her side in three long strides, looking down at her. Now that she thought about it, the venom must have made him taller. Pre-spider she reached to about his nose, but now the top of her head barely touched his chin. She straightened herself a little and stuck her chin out to make up for it.

"Thank you, Cindy," he said, offering her a smile. His fudgy eyes were smiling as they looked down at her, and then he blushed and looked down at his feet. "I'm glad that I can share this with you, out of all people."

Cindy's cheeks burned slightly but she smiled as well – she couldn't help it – and her heart raced a bit.

"Yeah me too," she replied, then she laughed. "Would you ever have believed that the girl who fainted on you in P.E. is now your co-spider-person."

Peter's eyes squinted slightly as he thought but then they lit up and he laughed back. "Right, I'd forgotten about that!" Cindy sure hadn't. "I kind of had a crush on you back then."

Cindy choked on her own saliva.

"Wha-what? You did?"

Peter's face dropped slightly, as if he hadn't meant to say that out-loud, and he absent-mindedly scratched the back of his neck. "Um, yeah. But after that you kind of avoided me so I figured you didn't feel the same."

Cindy swore at herself. _Dumbass_.

"I was really embarrassed," she muttered back, looking down at the ground and pushed her hair back behind her ear before crossing her arms in front of her. "And I," she swallowed graciously, "I kind of liked you too."

Peter looked at her with slightly widened eyes and a smile that crooked the left corner of his mouth. "Yeah?"

Cindy laughed a little uncomfortably, wishing that they would change the subject. She knew that if he asked her for how long she had been into him she wouldn't be able to lie without revealing herself, and she knew that he would get a hella lot farther away from her if he learned that she'd been daydreaming about him for five years.

They stood like that for a moment, neither of them really looking at each other. Cindy dared let her eyes flicker over the boy's costume. Frankly, it was even crappier than hers: he wore a blue pair sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt underneath a red vest, and a most ridiculous pair of red boots. He looked like he'd gone mad at a flea market!

"Peter, what the heck are you wearing?" she smiled. The boy looked up with a surprised expression that softened as he laughed, blushing.

"It was kind of an improvisation." He quirked a brow at her and tilted his head, looking down at her. "Maybe I should have gone for training gear as well."

"Maybe you should have!" Cindy grinned up at him and stuck her chin out. She turned around on the spot and walked a few steps across the roof, letting the absolutely last rays of soak into her skin. The Kingpin popped into her mind once again and the the weight of this mission yet again rested on her shoulders. No normal person would ever try to do something as foolish as trying to take down the Kingpin, but Cindy wasn't normal. And neither was Peter.

"I have to tell you-"

"Cindy I-"

The two teens smiled slightly as they both interrupted each other. Cindy spun around and nodded for him to continue. "You go first." He smiled at her before looking down at the ground, looking slightly at unease.

"Look, I'm really glad that Silk turned out to be you, that you're her, but…" He went quiet, trying to figure out the right words to use. He ruffled his untidy hair and wrinkled his nose. Cindy frowned at him.

"Yes?"

"You have to keep out of my way," he blurted out and it felt like he had stabbed her with an invisible dagger. "It just that… I'm trying to do my own thing here, I really like helping out in the neighborhood and all but I can't have you getting in my way like today."

"_Your_ way?" Cindy's chin had all but dropped to the ground. He had the audacity to get into _her_ way, mess up _her_ stake out, scare off _her_ bad guys and then tell her that _she_ needed to back off? – the bastard! The girl's eyes were so wide they nearly popped out of her eyes.

Peter looked unsure. He fiddled with the crappy homemade mask in his hands and his eyes flickered all over the place. "Of course you're more than welcome to help out, if you want-"

"_Help out_?" she nearly yelled at him, not believing her ears. Peter frowned at her rather annoyingly.

"You said yourself that you don't wanna fight crime, that you're not trying to be a hero?" That was true, she had said that. She didn't fight the Kingpin for the sake of being good, she did it for her father. It might be a selfish reason, but frankly, she didn't care. "By the way, what _were_ you doing there?"

"You know what, that's none of your business!" she grunted, unconsciously leaning forwards on her tippy-toes to get taller, her fists tied at the end of her straight arms. She twirled around and started walking at a quick pace toward the edge of the building. Her heart was racing and she couldn't decide if she was on the verge of crying or punching something so hard it broke. She needed to get far, far away from him.

She called over her shoulder, "For what it's worth, you keep out of _my_ way!"

The furious girl jumped off the building, leaving the boy standing on the rooftop, and swung between the smaller buildings back toward the parking house as the rain soaked her hair. Adrenaline pumped through her veins in a way it never had before – maybe that was yet another result from the spider bite? – and she practically saw red.

He was just a silly boy, a silly silly boy who had ruined her day and possibly crushed her chances of saving her dad from a life in jail, and just a few minutes ago she had looked into his brown eyes like they were the most important thing in the world. No, she could not get distracted by him like this, she needed a clean mind if she was going to figure out this mess.

* * *

"Martin."

"For _fuck's_ sake!"

The man jumped a few feet into the air before spinning around and looking at her with a furious face. She was clinging onto the wall, a few feet above him, outside of his apartment – Sally had found out his address. She noticed he was holding a white bag from his local thai place. "Must you always do that?"

"Look, I need more information about the Kingpin," Cindy muttered. She must have looked dreadful with her face slightly bruised from her earlier fight with Peter in the parking house and her hair in wet stripes along her face. The little bit of makeup she had around her eyes had washed down under her eyes.

The man in front of her sighed through clenched teeth. If looks could kill…

"I already told you everything I know." Martin was starting to shiver from the cold. "I told you about the meeting today. Oh don't tell me you screwed it up?"

"Someone got in my way," she muttered dryly.

The preppy guy looked at her with a deadpan expression, then down at the food getting colder by the second, and then up into the sky. His glasses quickly filled up with raindrops.

"You mind if we take this inside?" He had already started rattling with his keys trying to find the right one so he obviously didn't wait for her to answer. The heavy entrance door closed shut with a a loud _**bam**_ and the spider-girl crawled up the wall – using her web to fling herself upwards at a few points – to the seventh floor where she waited for him to let her in.

After a few minutes she heard the door click as he unlocked it and slam shut behind him. She was fairly sure he wouldn't try to pull any trick on her – he didn't seem to have the guts to do anything more harmful than hitting someone unconscious and if he did, her wacky Silk-sense would warn her in time.

Martin gave her a tired look as he opened the window before walking back toward the kitchen. As she slid in, Cindy quickly flashed her eyes over the space. It was a decent apartment, kind of in the middle between "fancy" and "average". It was quite open and airy, although not very big. Smelly and dirty, however – there were stacks of pizza cartons on the floor along with a bunch of thai take-out, and the couch was all but covered in clothes. Her mother would have a heart-attack if she saw this.

"Did you decorate this all by yourself?" Cindy commented dryly as she wrinkled her nose at some overused socks thrown onto the coffee table.

"Don't get all cocky on me," the man snapped from the kitchen, exiting with a fork before slumping down in a chair and digging in on his chicken fried rice, watching her from the peripherals of his eyes. "Both you and me know that you're just a kid with freaky powers."

"Hey!"

He glared at her and she waved off the offended look off her face.

"Anyhow," she continued, observing some dead plants on the window sill, "like I said, I need more information."

"Like _I_ said, I already told you everything I know," he muttered back in between bites. "It's not like we're facebook friends, I hardly know anything at all except my own part."

"Look," Cindy stood in front of him with crossed arms, a failed attempt at appearing intimidating. "There must be _something_. They never managed to do any sort of transaction today so I've got nothing on them. They didn't even introduce themselves, I have no way of tracking them down. Now, if you only gave me like a name or something-"

"For the love of God…" Martin pinched the bridge of his nose. "_I don't know anything_. Why can't you just leave me alone?"

Just as he was about to dig into his dinner again, Cindy shot out strings from her index finger and thumb that neatly caught the fork he was holding in his hand, and snatched it away from him, leaving him with a baffled expression.

"That's rude," she mumbled as she glared at him. "Now, let's try this again: I need to find the Kingpin."

Martin groaned and let his head fall back. "Jesus, you don't ever quit, do you?" Cindy refused to answer this question. "The Kingpin – whom I have never met – is a drug dealer, weapon seller, and a bunch of other illegal stuff. No one meets with him without his permission and no one pisses him off and walk out on the other side unharmed. If I were you, I'd find some other drug dealer to get caught up on."

"No," Cindy replied firmly through clenched teeth.

"What's your deal with him anyway?" Martin quirked a brow in her direction, suddenly rather intrigued.

"Why don't you just worry about yourself?" she bit back, tapping her fingers on her arm. She squinted her eyes at him. "Can you name me any of the people making deals with him?"

"My fork," Martin motioned for the metallic object in her hand but she just continued standing like frozen. His gaze turned stern. "I'll just go get another one, it's my apartment."

The girl tossed it to him along with a dramatic eye-roll. "Fine."

Damn it, she wasn't getting anywhere with this.

"Okay, but what about the people he sells to? Shouldn't be too many guys who buys large, illegal weaponry?"

"With all the money laundering? It's like a spider-web," he grunted. "Impossible to track down."

Cindy sighed, stopping in her tracks. Looks like she was back to square one, no clue what so ever to track anyone down. All he had was the first names of the two guys who worked for the Kingpin, but even Sally couldn't track them down with only that.

Think, she had to think! What did she know?

Lightning struck her and she nearly jumped into the roof from sheer excitement. Martin was a bit startled and shot her a dark look.

The _car_, of course! A few weeks ago when the Kingpin's men had met with a "miss Lundh" she had memorized the number plate – F-E-A-9-6-7-7. That had to lead somewhere? And she had mentioned a "Mr. Parsons".

"What do you know about a miss Lundh?" Her eyes shone with excitement as she turned around and looked at the annoyed guy who was just trying to finish his meal. She saw a flash of something – fear maybe? – strike across his eyes but he quickly shook it off, shaking his head.

"I don't know who that is," he stated simply but she could sense the nervous tone that edged his voice.

"I don't think you understand how this black-mailing thing works." Cindy placed her hands on her hips, looking directly at the man in front of her with her meanest stare – which was something she _really _had to work on. "Tell me or your life is sort of ruined."

Martin sighed in defeat mixed with annoyance and looked up at her, correcting his glasses.

"She's the front figure of some sort of European company, word is that you don't mess with them. I was present at one of the meetings with them, they bought mostly intel and a few special weapons."

"And what did you do there?" Martin looked away, his features shadowed by guilt.

"It's not important. What you _should_ know is that I don't think it's a good idea to go after her." Cindy frowned.

"So going after the Kingpin is fine but this Scandinavian lady is a big no-no? Do you know her first name, or anything more about her?" Martin stared at her for a minute before his lips twitched into a satisfied smile.

"I wonder what you have done with the rest of the Scooby-gang?" Cindy shot him a dark glare that really wasn't as scary as she hoped. "It was something German, but I don't remember what."

She squinted her eyes at him. "You don't remember?"

He sighed deeply – clearly getting tired of her – and gestured with his hands in the air to emphasize what he said. "I _don't_ remember! Jeez, do _you_ remember everything you ever hear?" He returned to his plate and Cindy felt slightly attacked.

"Well, yeah, I kind of do."

"I wasn't _asking_ you."

"But you said-"

"Oh my _God!_" he groaned, "You wanna find Lundh then start looking somewhere else, she's not in my apartment! Now _get out_!" He threw an empty cup after her as she darted through the open window. Wow, _rude_.

He hadn't given her a lot to go on, but at least she had a few little leads, plus the number plate she remembered from earlier. Surely Sally would be able to track that down somehow. Maybe she should start looking for other clues as well, just incase this Lundh thing was a dead-end.

As the soaked teenager swung through the city towards her home, a plan started to take form inside her mind. A plan that was her one and only shot.

* * *

**Don't bite my head off concerning Peter! He's a good guy, yes I know, it will all be sorted out in the future. Promise. Apart from that, I don't have much else to add, so here we go with some incorrect quotes!**

Sally: Go tell him he's cute. What's the worst that could happen?  
Cindy: He could hear me.

**Hey if any of you guys have any of these lying around/come up with a few yourselves, don't be a stranger!**

Cindy: You're like a cloud?  
Flash: I'm a cloud?  
Cindy: When you go away it's a beautiful day.

**I mostly get these from tv-shows, but it would be nice with a few original ones as well.**

Cindy: I don't know whether to kiss you or shove you off the Brooklyn bridge!  
Peter: Can I pick?

**Lots of love to you all, stay safe (at home, with a cup of warm tea, with a nice fic on your phone/computer) and don't forget to spread the love! :)**


	16. Chapter 15

**Another evening, another chapter. God, I have so many feelings about this chapter – I really like that it's more grounded and we get to follow Cin in school, but it was also a pain in the butt to write. Anyhow, I'm quite happy with how it turned out and I didn't leave you guys waiting for too long so that's good. I actually have a poll on my page regarding when to update, so please take a look at that, it would be very helpful :)**

**Also, I'd really like to point out that I'm not trying to make Peter into a dick or anything but just play on the fact that he's young and naive, just like we saw in Homecoming, only this time he is actually younger and really excited about being a 'hero'. I'd just like you to keep this in mind while reading, since he and Cindy isn't exactly on best of terms.**

**Cleo9427: **Oh yes, things would have been very different. Luckily I have a very cute scene for them to compensate for all this misunderstanding that's only a few chapters away ;)

**SnuffleTruff:** Thank you so much, it really means a lot to hear that :D It's so easy to get self-concious about your writing and keeping the characters true, and I've been really worried that Cin and Peter don't have a 'spark' between them and that you readers will think that it's too forced, so thanks for calming me down! I just started watching Parks and Rec actually, but 70's show is on my list :D Never heard of Hilda but will check it out, thanks for the recs!

**FigurativelyDying:** Waah I can't believe you re-read this story :D Probably a good idea though since I've been so bad at updating over the year (sorry 'bout that) but I'm really happy that you like it! And here you go, hope this ends on a slightly happier note :P

**Big thanks to PrettyRecklessLaura, MedicusAestus, Lauren212, minnatarek, DancingAdventurer45, angel'slittledemon, rublez927, Iliv3inmymind, loserfanficlover, QueenOfEpic, LiteratureCat, Pun Queen, StandUpKeepMovingForward, Bibliomaniac100, Maimacph, and tofusaurus for leaving a review, following, and/or favoriting – it means so much to me you guys, happy reading!**

* * *

What is more wonderful than shoving yourself through a forest of tired, sweaty, and rude teenagers at eight a.m. on a monday morning?

The answer? _Anything_.

At least three people had walked into Cindy in less than a hundred yards, one of which had managed to step on one of her white sneakers that now had a very visible brown footprint on them. Not to mention the girl who was the school band, who had managed to toot her trumpet in her ear right as she walked by. She had done her best not to freak out but had still managed to instinctively smack it away from her so hard that it had flown into the wall and dented, and now her ear hurt. Plus, her dad forgot to pack her bag of doritos…

"Hey watch out!" the girl snapped as one of the football team's quarterbacks walked into her shoulder. She had the urge to nudge him so hard that he'd be flicked into one of the lockers and maybe learn to watch out next time, but that would drag some unwanted attention to her now wouldn't it…

Jeez, what was wrong with her? For these past few weeks she had been carrying so much anger within her and it was something she really wasn't used to. She always had the urge to snap at people or shove them away, like they were intruding on her personal space, and it was exhausting. It made her feel like thousand of bugs were crawling under her skin. Would it ever go away?

"Sorry," the big guy mumbled grumpily as he continued down through the hallway full of teenagers, shooting her a somewhat dark look over his shoulder. Jerk.

She continued down the mint green hallway as the school's receptionist called out a message in the speakers about a backpack that had been found in the football field, half-grumpily greeting Michelle who was parked by her locker with – surprise surprise – her nose in a book. The girl only grunted back but then looked up, as if she had just then realized that it had been to her, and smiled half-heartedly at Cindy along with a nod. She was so unlike her older sister it was almost laughable. Cindy hadn't figured out until a few months in on the decathlon team that the two of them were related, and that was _after_ discovering that they shared last names. However, they were both witty in their own ways, Olivia being more book-smart while Michelle was a devil at spotting connections, especially in social contexts.

Cindy shook the messy thoughts out of her head as she turned the corner, seeing Sally standing by their lockers. A sigh of relief escaped her and she lengthened her strides as she continued toward her friend who still hadn't noticed her.

"Hey," she mumbled and when Sally looked up, her friend's eyes went wide.

"Why the hell didn't you call me last night?" she scolded and slammed her locker shut, glaring at her with dark eyes.

"I texted you," Cindy remarked with an eye-roll as she opened hers. The small mirror on the inside of the door revealed how shitty she actually looked, with messy hair sticking out in different directions and dark circles underneath her droopy eyes. She had been up half night trying to figure out a new plan on how to get close to the Kingpin. She hadn't really revealed anything to Sally, just let her know that she'd come home in one piece.

She quickly gathered her short hair into a messy ponytail before shoving some books into the locker.

"So? You were supposed to _call_, so we could discuss what you found out? My God, don't say you forgot the camera…" Cindy pulled out the GoPro out of her backpack and tossed it to her rather harshly. She didn't like being scolded this early in the morning. "Why are you so pissed? What happened?"

"You'll see on that thing," Cindy muttered back rudely before a wave of self-perception hit her and she stopped completely, leaning her temple against the cold metal as she exhaled deeply. Fuck, how would she get through this day? She continued softly, "I didn't get any information because their meeting was interrupted and they ran off."

Sally looked like a living question mark. "Interrupted by who?"

Well, she'd see it on the film sooner or later so she might as well tell her now. Even though it made a spot in her stomach hurt like hell.

"That Spiderman guy."

Sally frowned and blinked at her, "Spider-who?" before something in her eyes clicked and the questioning frown turned into realization. "No way! _Oh my_\- Did you find out who he is?"

Cindy closed the door to her locker and carefully looked around in the hallway. It was calmer now since people had started to head to their respective classrooms and the loud chatter had become a soft mumble. She locked Sally's gaze with eyes of steel.

"Look, I hate lying to you so I'm not gonna, but there's something I can't tell you. I _can't_." The frown reappeared on Sally's forehead and she opened her mouth to argue, but Cindy continued before she could do so, "It kills me not to tell you so _please_, don't push me. I'll tell you everything you need to know and, believe me, I'm so happy that I finally can tell you all this stuff about," she looked over her shoulder again, her eyes slightly watered from the pressure and exhaustion, "the Kingpin and my spider-stuff end everything. But I can't tell you this one thing so you're gonna have to trust me on this."

At that moment, the two girls had been friends for roughly nine years and Sally knew very well when her shorter friend had had enough of something, and judging by the waterline in Cindy's eyes, she'd passed that point a long time ago.

Sally nodded subtly and pulled her into a tight hug, knowing she needed it, and replied, "Yeah, of course." Of course she was beyond curious about what it was that she needed to hide, but had to let it go this time, trusting that Cindy would tell her when the time was right.

Cindy, who was a bit taken aback by her friend's move, hugged her back and nestled her face into her shoulder, allowing herself to feel small. Sally's skin was warm and she smelled like grass and that expensive soap her parents always bought.

"Thanks," she mumbled as she pulled back, smiling gently at her. "And I _do_ have some information, although it's not precisely new."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Cindy was a bit embarrassed to admit this, "I heard something a few weeks ago and then it kind of slipped my mind."

"So you forgot?" there was a playful and teasing tone in Sally's voice. Cindy glared at her.

"I don't forget things," she hissed and slammed the locker shut, throwing her – now lighter – backpack onto her shoulders. The two girls started walking toward the corridor where all the languages were taught.

"You forgot a nice attitude," her friend muttered and received a not-so light nudge on her upper arm. "Ouch! Spider-strength, remember?" Cindy rolled her eyes at her. "But tell me, what was it that you forgot?"

"I didn't _forget_ it I-"

"Yeah yeah _knock it off_ will you?"

"_Fine_." Cindy pouted her lips slightly and stuck her chin out. "When I first found out about," a group of seniors appeared behind them and seemed to be heading in the same direction, "you-know-who-"

"Should we just call him Voldemort?" Sally quirked a brow at her and knowing her friend's Harry Potter mania, Cindy figured it was the least she could do for her friend. Plus, anything that could lighten up this horrible situation was more than welcomed.

"When I first found out about _Voldemort_," she hurried along, making a waving gesture with her hand, "there was a woman there who was called _Lundh_. Apparently she's the front figure of some big, scary, european corporation. They bought some sort of information from them on these kinds of discs and Martin told me they had a history of buying secret intel and some weapons. I remember the number plate on her car so maybe we can track that down. Do you think you can do it?"

Sally scoffed. "Of course I can. But this chick you're talking about, do you know her last name? Or maybe that _is_ her last name… Anyhow, it's hard enough tracking someone down with _both_ their names."

"It's a european surname, german slash scandinavian, it means "grove". He didn't know her first name but he said it was something german, so that's a dead end." Sally hummed agreeingly. She was looking down at the floor as she walked, sucking on the inside of her cheek as they continued down the corridor where they had their respective language classes.

"Maybe it's them who wants Oscorp's gene-manipulation."

Cindy stopped dead in her tracks and looked at her friend with a deep frown. "What?"

Sally shrugged at her and pursed her lips like it was obvious. "Why not? You said that they bought weapons, isn't gene-manipulation the ultimate weapon? Just look at you," she gestured with her hand toward all of Cindy, "you're basically a super-soldier, and you're _you_. Imagine if that spider had bitten someone seriously ripped. They'd basically create a new Captain America."

Her genius friend was of course absolutely right.

"Oh my God, Sal!" Cindy shouted in a whisper, "That's gotta be it!" Sally smirked and straightened herself a little, very satisfied with her own deduction.

"Look, you can come over to my place after school, or maybe we'll go to the library or something, and I'll see what I can do about the car. We'll come up with a new plan, at least now we have an idea of who we're after- Oh hi, Peter."

The hair on Cindy's neck rose as she she turned, dread filling her eyes and ice her stomach. Of course she knew that Peter and she was in the same Spanish class, but she had hoped of avoiding him as much as possible during the day, seeing that Spanish and P.E. was their only classes together on mondays, if you didn't count the decathlon practice.

"Hi," Peter flashed Sally a stressed smile before focusing his eyes on Cindy. "Can I talk to you?"

"Well, I'm just gonna go ahead and… disparaître," Sally commented a bit dryly – slightly offended by the way Peter had tossed her to the side – as she nodded toward her own classroom. Before turning around and leaving them alone she shot Cindy a questioning look but the girl ignored it.

"I'm really not that interested," Cindy muttered and turned her back against him, taking a step in the direction of their classroom.

"_Please_."

The despair edging his voice was clear and it forced her to stop. Turning around again she found his dark eyes big and pleading, his pinched brows forming a frown on his forehead. She crossed her arms in front of her.

"There's nothing to talk about," she stated simply and Peter took a few short steps toward her.

"Look, I'm sorry that I offended you, I really shouldn't have expressed myself that bluntly-"

"No, you shouldn't have," she interrupted with a growl. Peter lost himself for a moment, licking his lips as he brushed his hand through his messy hair. His eyes were framed with pink – jeez, he really looked like a mess…

"I never meant to upset you, Cin, you're the only one I can talk to about this stuff. I want us to be in this together. I've thought about what I said and, jeez, you can get in my way as much as you want," he offered her a wry smile, even though desperation still shone in his eyes. Cindy sighed, looking down at the floor.

"Peter," she began, not really knowing what she should answer. Fire was still pumping through her veins. "I actually agree with you." Peter's face shone up for a moment, but that was it. A moment. "I think we should keep out of each other's way. I'm not gonna interfere with what you're doing and you're not gonna interfere with me. And we really shouldn't talk about our… _Abilities_. It's for the best."

Peter looked like someone had poured orange juice down his shirt.

Cindy turned once again to walk into the classroom but was forced to a stop as slender and firm fingers wrapped around her upper arm.

"Please, I didn't mean-"

She snatched her arm back and glared at him in a challenging manner before finally making it into the room. The top of her lungs felt like they were on fire and she all but floated down the rows of tables until she got to her usual seat in the front. The seats closest to her had already been taken so she didn't have to worry about Peter chasing down after her.

_Sigh_. What the hell was she gonna do?

Just because he apologized for what he'd said didn't mean that he hadn't meant what he'd said, he just hadn't liked the way she'd responded. It didn't change the fact that he was selfish and didn't believe she had as important businesses, that she just lolled about the city. Frankly, he didn't think she was as important as him, he had made that clear.

If she _had_ told him about the Kingpin then she was sure he would have gone and made it all about himself, insisting on taking the lead. And she _had_ meant what she had said, it would be so much easier if they kept out of each other's way, she couldn't afford being distracted. And to be honest, she was starting to grow kind of sick with all these ups-and-downs.

"Hola, hola, clase. Buenos días!" their spanish teacher began in a most perky tone before instructing them to discuss what they had done during the weekend with their bench-neighbors. Cindy blabbered on about being with her family and meeting up with Sally and stuff without as much as flinching – gee, she was getting a lot better at lying, which, unfortunately, would have to become second nature now if she wanted to continue her Silk-business without anyone figuring out.

For the whole hour she could feel Peter's eyes burning on the back of her head, and as tempted as she was to turn around and glare back, she locked her eyes on the book in front of her. She knew that once the bell rang she could breathe out, knowing she wouldn't be stuck with him in the same room until P.E., which was her last class for the day.

Sure enough, the hairs on her body rose, a tingling shiver fled down her spine, and the sharp sound of the bell rang. She managed to hold herself together surprisingly well, only flinching a little at the sudden noise, but so did most students.

She quickly gathered her things and chatted lightly with the girl next to her, a plastic smile on her lips, before hurrying off, being the first one of the students to leave out the door.

* * *

"Dorito?" Sally offered and Cindy shoved her hand down the bag. "Hey, hey! It was _singular_ damn it!"

Cindy just grinned sweetly at her friend as she stuffed the handful of tortilla chips into her mouth. Since the sun was out and the temperature was a bit over fifty degrees, Sally had convinced her friend that they should have lunch outside and they were currently seated on a patch of grass by the track field, out of hearing from any other students.

"I can't help myself," she frowned and laughed as her friend threw crumbles at her. "Stop it!"

"Duchebag," Sally muttered and threw a chip into her mouth. "Why am I even friends with you?"

"Um, because I'm amazing?" Cindy quirked a brow at her. "And can shoot web from my bare fingers."

"Ah, that's right. Touché."

Cindy laid down on her back, resting her head on her arms. "I like how the french decided that "_tushy"_ was a great comeback." Sally smacked her arm.

"Okay, so," she began, "what actually went down yesterday? Did you really not find out anything?"

Cindy exhaled deeply, looking up at the blue sky. Yesterday felt like a dream, the pictures of everything – the Kingpin's men, her and Peter's fight in the parking house, their talk afterwards, how she had stormed off – kept flashing in front of her eyes without stopping. And sure enough, Sally _would_ see the tape in just a few hours, but she would need an explanation anyhow.

"Three people showed up for the meeting, two guys – who I've seen before – and a woman. Their names were Lionel and Alexei, and the girl was called Kitty I think. She and Lionel are clearly an item, they could barely keep their hands off each other, and they were both really gorgeous-looking. Like, where did the Kingpin find them, on a runway show? They were all very neatly dressed-"

"_Focus_, Cin. And stop blabbering, you're giving me a headache."

"Oh, _right_." She sat up on her elbows and looked at her friend while continuing, "They were waiting for someone who owe them a lot of money." Cindy locked her friend's gaze with solid eyes. "An _insane_ amount of money. And all of the sudden this black car races in and four guys exited, one of them – the one who did the talking – was called "_Kaiser"_."

"Isn't that german too?" Sally frowned. "Maybe he's connected to that Lundh?" Cindy's eyes widened slightly at the realization.

"I mean, it could be just a coincidence, but yeah, maybe. God, I just wish we knew their full names," Cindy grunted and fell back to the ground again, rubbing her eyes. "And, well, anyhow," she went on, "they were just about to exchange money for information – Kaiser, that is – and Kitty said that they were delayed. I think it might have something to do with the files Martin failed to deliver last week."

"And what does Martin say?"

Cindy sighed and shrugged. "He says he doesn't know anything. Bloody useless… Pretty much the only thing he's told us is that he's working undercover at Oscorp and is supposed to get their files on gene-manipulation. I think he's getting pressured, though, so we'll have to work quite quickly –

just because he's giving us information doesn't mean he's on our side.

"Hm… We'll figure something out about that too." Cindy added it to her mental list. "Don't worry, he won't get the chance to get them," Sally continued with a comforting tone, squeezing Cindy's shoulder lightly. The girls sat back up and smiled at her friend.

"Thanks, Sal. I'm really glad I have you on my side for this." The two girls smiled at each other for a moment until Sally nudged her foot against Cindy's.

"Now, what happened next?"

Cindy sighed heavily. "That's where Spiderman comes into the equation." She noticed Sally's body tense a little and she shifted toward her, clearly intrigued. She knew that Sally had heard of him – a clip of him climbing a building on Manhattan had gone semi-viral within the past week – but no one knew nearly anything about him. Was he good? Bad? Dangerous?

When Cindy didn't continue she tried slapping her on the foot, but the girl's Silk-sense felt it coming and she moved it, sticking her tongue out.

"You're the worst at telling stories, you know that, right?" Cindy shot a glare at her.

"Well if you don't like it-"

"_Just continue_, for fuck's sake."

"Fine, fine. So, he comes swinging in, chasing the guys in the car, and they drove off. The Kingpin's gang also ran off while I was fighting him."

"You fought with him?" Sally sounded both impressed and skeptical. "Really?"

"What?" snapped Cindy and her friend shrugged, looking over the grass field where a bunch of jocks wrestled each other.

"It's just hard to imagine _you_," she glanced back at Cindy, looking her up and down, "fighting some guy."

Cindy felt a strong urge to throw her half-empty can of soda on her, but managed to restrain herself, exhaling deeply instead.

"_Anyhow_, I fought with him and that's pretty much it," she lied and looked away to the field as well. She couldn't look at her friend and lie at the same time. Sally would know instantly by the look in her eyes.

"What do you mean "_that's it"_, what _happened_?" Cindy squirmed uncomfortably. For a moment she pondered the question, trying to figure out which words to use.

"That's the thing I can't tell you about," she finally confessed. Sally nearly lost her mind at first, snapping at her that it was bullshit, but once she saw the look on her friend's face she quickly shut her mouth.

"Fine. But just let me know, is it that you _can't_ tell me, or don't _want_ to tell me?"

"I _can't_. I promise you, I wish that I could and it's killing me not to, but I can't." Cindy looked at her friend with sad and genuine eyes. "I don't know, maybe in the future, when everything's calmed down." Sally pursed her lips as she pondered.

"Okay. I buy it."

"Thanks." She exhaled and the two girls sat quiet for a moment. They had nearly finished their lunch by then and it was about time to head back into the school, their classes would start in just a few minutes. Unfortunately they would be separated for the next few hours, Cindy heading off to religion and geometry, and Sally to geography and social sciences, but they would see each other in P.E. for sixth period.

They stood and a breeze drew over the field, ruffling their hair and brought a scent of flowers that caused Sally to sneeze. As they walked toward the entrance Sally looked up at her. "Hey, what was up with Peter this morning? He completely blew me off. What did he wanna talk about?"

Cindy crossed her arms in front of her as she walked and kept her gaze focused on a spot on the ground in front of her.

"He was really stressed about our spanish homework, that's all."

* * *

"Students! Teenagers! Will you _please_ stop bouncing the balls."

Kong – in the far end of the gymnasium – called out a _very_ inappropriate joke concerning "_bouncing balls"_ and the large room was filled with laughs and giggles. Cindy could tell by the look in their coach's eyes that he was seriously reconsidering his choice of career.

For today's lesson he had chosen basketball for them, a sport Cindy had always loathed due to her short legs and inability to jump higher than a foot, but to be honest she was kind of excited how this would go with her new set of skills. She still had to stay kind of low-key so no one would start suspecting that something was up with her, but that didn't mean she couldn't have some fun. Something that was _not_ fun, however, was Peter's eyes burning into her neck. She could feel his gaze on her constantly and it made her spine tingle in a most uneasy way.

"Let's gather around. _Now_!"

Sally leaned in closer to her and whispered, "Wanna bet how long before he has a breakdown?" Cindy rolled her eyes at her. "I'm guessing ten."

"Twenty." Coach Wilson had been here for eight years, he was persistent.

"Now, we're gonna start off with some dribbling exercises two and two," Cindy and Sally exchanged looks, confirming that they'd pair up, "and then we'll divide into two teams and play match."

"Can we choose our partners?" Lara, who was standing in the front, asked with a raised hand. Coach Wilson looked at her with those stated eyes and shrugged.

"Whatever, just pair up."

A bunch of students high-fived and Lara stood on the balls of her feet to kiss her boyfriend. Sally and Cindy hooked arms with shared smiles, but were quickly interrupted.

"Hey Sal?"

They looked up to find Ned standing beside them. The boy looked slightly out of place – odd… – and looked between the two of them unsurely before letting his eyes settle on Sally.

"I just, uh, wonder if we could maybe dribble together? I have some ideas for the english project that I thought maybe we could go over."

The two girls looked at each other with raised brows, both quite lost at words. Cindy shrugged minimally and Sally pursed her lips, the pair of them having a wordless conversation before turning to Ned.

"Sure," Sally shrugged and a smile tugged at her lips, although she tried to appear cool and unaffected. Cindy couldn't help but smile as the two of them walked toward the metal container with all the basketballs.

Looking around she searched for someone who hadn't yet paired up that she could join, but most of the students seemed to have a partner already. She frowned slightly and pursed her lips, they were an even number of students in this class so there must be _someone _she could pair up with.

"Cindy?" A shiver fled down her spine and she closed her eyes. _Damn_. She exhaled heavily before turning around to find Peter standing there – wearing that stupid long-sleeve – with a determined look on his face.

"Can we talk, please?"

"I don't think that's a- Wait…" Her gaze jumped to where Sally and Ned stood, cheerfully chatting as they passed the ball to one another, and her eyes narrowed as she looked back to the boy. "You told Ned to pair up with Sally?"

Peter's eyes widened slightly, clearly a bit stunned that she'd caught him so fast, but quickly regained his wit as he continued, "I just wanna talk about yesterday."

"I already told you, I don't want to-"

"Parker, Moon," the coach called, "we don't have all day – pair up!"

Why? Just _why_? Couldn't she just get a break from all the drama for once in a blue-moon?

"Fine," she muttered through gritted teeth and started walking toward the basketballs, her arms crossed and fists clenched. She really wanted to punch something. Snatching a ball from the small container she walked off to an open spot, Peter following close behind. She bounced the ball a few times against the floor, the annoyance all but steaming off of her, and she kept her eyes close on the orange thing in front of her. After a few bounces she lifted her gaze and all but threw the ball to Peter, using some of her extra strength. To her annoyance he caught it neatly, not as much as flinching, before bouncing it two times and passing it back again in a nicer manner.

"I don't want us to be on bad terms," the boy began. If Cindy would have looked at him properly she would have seen the genuine gleam in his eyes, but instead she just scoffed internally.

"A bit too late for that," she muttered quietly while throwing the ball to him but his sensitive hearing still picked up on it.

"Please, I just want us to be able to talk all this stuff. I mean, you're the only one I can talk to about this, and I'm the only one who understands what you're going through." He passed the ball back to her.

"I have Sally," she reminded him a bit drily, despite understanding where he was getting at. "She's got my back." This seemed to shut him up for a moment and she could see him pondering something. _No, don't say…_

"You didn't tell her about me, right?"

Cindy threw the ball at him with all her strength now and she could hear a faint "_oof"_ escape his lips. If she hadn't been so angry at the moment she would have smirked with satisfaction.

"This is just what I'm talking about. Everything centers around _you_." Her voice was low but poisonous and her eyes sharp as daggers. He couldn't help being the center of attention, and on top of that he obviously didn't trust in her abilities. To him, she was just goofing around.

Peter realized how bad what he'd just said sounded and his eyes widened as he started to ramble, "No I- It's not like- I didn't mean it like that!" He shook his head and took a few steps toward her. "I'm just trying to apologize so we can go back to being friends."

Something hurt deep down in Cindy's chest, something she couldn't find any words to describe, but was the ignition of what she said next.

"Maybe I don't want that."

In hindsight she wished she had looked down while saying this, because looking into Peter's eyes she could all but hear his heart shatter.

His mouth became a hard and thin line as he looked down at the ground. "If that's how you feel." He bounced the ball hard into the ground and it went fifteen feet up into the air and turned around, quietly muttering, "I'll leave you alone then."

"Parker, where are you going?" coach Wilson called with a questioning look.

"Bathroom break," he replied and received a nod from the coach, who looked at Cindy and gestured for her to jump in and join a couple. Without thinking twice about it she walked up to Sally and Ned, and the three of them actually had a fun time passing the ball to one another.

While the three of them where doing great, there were a bunch of other groups who did a bunch of things they weren't supposed to, and eventually Mr. Wilson just flomped down on a chair, burying his face in his hands. Cindy peered up at the clock to find that about eighteen minutes of the lesson had passed and looked at Sally with a devilish grin while mouthing "_I win"_. Luckily, Peter didn't re-appear until it was time to divide the class into two teams. He had been really pissed with her when he left and she couldn't help but be a bit curious of what he had been up to for the past fifteen minutes.

As faith had it they ended up on the same team, but it worked out quite well as Peter got stuck in the back guarding the basket and she in the front. Ned was on their team too, but poor Sally was stuck on the other team alongside Kong and Flash.

"Pass the ball, lard-ass!" Flash snapped at her, receiving a bunch of giggles from some other students. A fiery rage rose within Cindy and she glared at the boy with dagger-eyes. He was being a real jerk, she wasn't even that overweight.

Just as she opened her mouth to snap something back to stand up for her friend, Sally took things into her own hands.

"Dude, I'd say a comeback but your name's _Eugene _and I think that's punishment enough."

Almost the whole class broke into laughter and Flash's face turned bright red as he hissed at his own friends to shut up, and Cindy couldn't help but to feel a sting of pride.

_That's right!_ she cheered and grinned at Sally, who grinned back at her with a wrinkled nose. The coach called for them to get going again and the game continued, Sally's team scoring almost immediately.

Now, turns out that when you're fast, agile, and having good reflexes, basketball is actually quite fun! Cindy caught the ball every time someone passed it to her, she managed to snatch it from the other team as well, and she even did a few shots. Her fellow team-mates cheered her on and she even received an approving high-five from Finn, who was their captain.

"Hey Cindy!" a guy named Philip called before passing the ball her way. She jumped a few feet into the air and caught it neatly in her hands before landing swiftly on the ground again, dribbling past one of the opponent players. Yeah, this really was fun! She had to take the opportunity and explore sports now that she actually could. Hockey maybe?

She jogged with the ball a few more feet, getting very close to the other team's basket, when Flash stepped in her way. He looked at her with grim eyes and such determination to put an end to her success.

"You know, as a consolation prize I could take you out for dinner," he smiled nastily and Cindy squinted her eyes at him.

"You know your team is _down_ with three points?" she pointed out, straightening herself and sticking her chin out.

"Not for long," he exclaimed while throwing himself over the ball. However, Cindy was faster and quickly passed it to her other hand. Flash looked up at her with surprise mixed with annoyance before lunging to her other side. She quickly tossed the ball to her other hand while casually taking a step backwards, causing the boy to fall flat on his face. A few people sniggered and he quickly scrambled to his feet, glaring at her with fiery eyes. Cindy quirked a brow at him, her free hand resting on her hip.

"What are you doing, it's right here." She tossed the ball into the air a few times before grasping it with both her hands, and this time Flash went full on straightforward, grabbing the ball with both his hands and forcefully pulling it toward him. His face when it didn't bulge from Cindy's hands was priceless.

To teach him a lesson, Cindy had deliberately attached a millimeter's worth of web from all her fingers to secure the ball to her, and Flash's strength was nothing to compare to her own. It was surely a sight to see, this guy trying to take the ball from this tiny tiny girl and failing miserably.

"Just take it!" Kong yelled from the other side of the court and Flash shot a sour look at him before once again throwing himself at Cindy and pulling on the basketball with all his force, only to find that he might as well have been trying to pull the door off a car.

"What the fuck," he breathed and stared at her with wide eyes. "You're a freak!"

"_I'm _a freak? You're the one who can't even take the ball from a girl." She didn't enjoy playing that card but drastic times calls for drastic measures.

At that point one of Flash's team-mates had grown tired of waiting and ran up to the pair, quickly placing a hand on either side of the ball and just to mess with Flash's head, Cindy let the webbing off from her fingers, allowing the boy to swiftly pull it away. Once again a few people giggled and she spotted Sally in the back almost bending over herself with laughter and a devilish grin spread across Cindy's lips.

* * *

**A nice little homage to one of the spiderman films in the end there, once I got the idea in my head I really couldn't get it out. Now, this chapter ended on a way happier note than the last one, even though Peter and Cin are angrier with each other than ever. Let's see if they can sort that out in the future… Next chapter brings a bunch of Cindy/Sally time (which we all love) and maybe a bit of action? Writing the fighting scene between her and Pete two chapters ago I realized how much I've missed that, so I'll see what I can do! Until then, ****_incorrect quotes…_**

Peter: "Blind Side" was the black kid that played tight end.

Cindy: Offensive line.

Peter: Sorry, African-American kid.

**I think most of these are from Modern Family, and since we don't get to see much Cinter-fluff in a while let's get some cute quotes.**

Peter: Hey, I have a question.

Peter: What do you call a boy ladybug?

Cindy: …

Cindy: Confused.

**Full House is also amazing, has anyone seen it?**

*Cindy's Silk sense tingles*

Cindy: PETER what dumb shit are you up to?

**I can't get enough of these two and I can't wait until I get to write a certain scene I have in mind…**

Cindy [on the phone]: Hey, whatcha doing?

Peter [playing video games]: Eh, dishes.

Cindy: Did I just hear a laser gun?

Peter: This is a bad neighbourhood.

**Aand to finish off…**

Flash: *opens his mouth*

Sally: If I wanted to hear from an asshole, I would have farted.

**Until next time!**


	17. Chapter 16

**Evening everyone, finally got this chapter out. Geez, I got such a writer's block and then the weeks just went by, but at last here we go. I have no idea how this chapter got so long, I think it's the longest one so far, but there's a bunch of action things that happens, and we're getting real close to a part that I've been looking forwards to for almost a year now!**

**Since the last time I've actually taken time to plan the chapters that are left and there will be seven more (eight if I can't get my act together) chapters of this 'book' before we move on to Civil War and Homecoming (whoo!). I'd also like to remind you to answer the poll on my page regarding which day of the week I should post this story on. Would be nice both for me and you to know I suppose.**

**AccelBreaker:** It's still a while left until we get to see Tony (I can reveal that it's not gonna be in this book), but we're getting close now!

**SnuffleTruff:** Wow it makes me so happy to hear you say that! I've always been worried that people are gonna find the non-action parts boring and have been quite stressed about that (although I love writing 'slow' scenes, I'm one of those that kind of skims through those parts in others' stories). Let me know what you think of this chapter, since it's a bit more action-filled but I've still tried to keep some 'lightness' in Cindy and Sally's conversations. Thanks for a beautiful review that brought a smile to my lips!

**Hearteyesmf:** I'm so relieved to hear you say that, was so worried people were gonna bite my head off for making him a bit too big-headed, and I can assure you that you will love the chapter after the next one ;)

**AddictionProblems21:** YESS

**Also, big thanks to Notary Sojac, PrettyRecklessLaura, Cleo9427, 3Silvia, Transi3nt, Chamomille723, Lolly Raven, tokkiKANA, gracekav96, Mars Carter, Dragon Of The Ecplising Moon, CalpicoSoda, SabrinaInWonderland001, SarahMarie-G, Vendreici, Biankia, DestielWolf8, Assbitch67, and Noemi98 for leaving a review, following, and/or favoriting! I also wanna send out my love to each one of you – I hope you all are safe and in good spirit despite what's going on. I hope that this chapter can give you a few moments of peace and the feeling that everything's normal for a while. Hope you enjoy it :)**

* * *

The school's library had these fluorescent lamps that had this constant flicker along with this annoying, humming noise to them that were bound to give Cindy one of those dull headaches right below her temples.

She and Sally were currently seated in one of the library's group rooms that they had – unbelievably – managed to get their hands on. Usually all the group rooms were taken at this hour of the day, but Sally had been watching the rooms like a hawk while Cindy had been at decathlon practice and had managed to get one while someone was leaving. The group rooms were awesome. The wi-fi was always on point, the chairs were soft and comfy, there was a large window showing some pretty cherry trees, and the air condition was better than most parts of the school. But those bloody lights…

"Sorry but I just can't," Cindy sighed with defeat as she shot out a cluster of web that landed on the lamp switch on the wall, right by the door, causing the lights to go off. Thanks to the large window the room was still quite bright. Sally just rolled her eyes, her way of saying "_fine"_, before continuing to tap the keys of her computer.

"Now, just give it a moment to load…"

Cindy groaned with impatience, letting her head fall back. Her foot tapped against the floor in the beat of a hummingbird's heart and a spot in her stomach hurt like hell. This was it. If this didn't lead anywhere she was pretty much toast. If she'd had a glass of whiskey by her side she would have drowned it in a second. She probably would have hurled it back up in a second, though, considering she was fourteen and didn't drink. But still.

Cindy's eyes fell upon her friend's face, studying her expression – a mixture between boredom from having to wait, and excitement from tracking down allies of _the_ Kingpin.

"How did you learn all this?" Cindy asked finally, with a questioning frown on her face. "Tracking down cars and hacking people? And most of all, why the hell have you never told me?"

A vicious grin formed on her friend's lips.

"My dad has shown me a few things," well her dad _was_ a federal agent, "and some things I've learnt from doing research." Sally looked down at the computer again, tilting her head slightly. "I don't know, it started out with handing in a few papers a little late and having to change the time, but then I needed to delete a few emails – like I told you – and one time I needed to get my parents' signature for something, and from that point I kind of just kept going. I haven't done something illegal or anything, I mean I _could_ change my grades or someone else's if I wanted to–"

"Wait," Cindy's eyes narrowed as she recalled a memory, "so that time last year when I was thirty minutes late for class and was scared to death that I would get called into the principal's office…"

"Yup." Sally smacked her lips, "Sally to the rescue."

"But why didn't you _tell_ me?" By now Cindy was balancing the chair on its legs and had thrown her arms out her sides. They told each other _everything_. Always. Okay, maybe except for one spider-related secret, but apart from that – always!

Sally looked down at the laptop again and pursed her lips. By the looks of her, she was seriously considering refusing to answer the question.

"I figured that the less people that know, you know…" She shrugged but then glanced up at her friend. "Plus, I knew you wouldn't let me keep track of you." Cindy's eyes widened and if it hadn't been for her excellent balance she most likely would have fallen off her chair.

"What! What do you mean?" Sally smirked again, although she did look quite embarrassed underneath it.

"Well, let's just say that before you told me about the Silk-thing, I knew you ran around the city during the nights. That's why I was so worried." Cindy remembered that Sally had chased her down one of the hallways, pushing her to tell her what was going on, the very same day she had ended up telling her about her powers. That was only three days ago but it felt like an eternity… "Anyhow, you know now, so… Oh I've got it! What was the number plate again?"

Cindy blinked and it took her a moment to realize that Sally had managed to hack the website, allowing them to track down the owner of the car.

"F-E-A-9-6-7-7," she recalled, adding the state letters as well. "How long time does it take before we know?"

Sally shrugged, "Not sure, I've never really done this before." She pursed her lips and looked up at her with a quirked brow. "You know, if we manage to find it then we should probably put a tracker on it, so we can follow them. I might be able to snatch something from home that my dad has left lying around – that would be awesome – but otherwise we can go shopping for something less advanced."

"Fine." Cindy crossed her arms in front of her and looked out the window at two girls who were passing by. The spot in her stomach ached even worse now. Jeez, this was really it. There was always a chance that the car had been stolen to begin with, or that they had a false number plate, or that it had been ditched in a lake somewhere – then she honestly didn't know what she would do. All this Kingpin stuff was really taking its toll on her, she couldn't wait until all of this finally was over. If she succeeded, that was…

"What if we don't find anything?"

Sally glanced up at her and despite flashing her a confident smile, Cindy still noticed the flicker of doubt in her eyes. "Then we'll check the tape from saturday and track down _that_ car."

"It's the same car…"

"Oh. Well, then we'll just– It's finished!"

Cindy straightened herself up, sitting on the edge of the seat with wide eyes.

"_And_?" she blurted. Sally turned the laptop around and moved closer. On the screen she saw the name "_Blaine Orwell"_ in black letters along with some information that must be from his driver's license and an address. Sally quickly typed in the street name and number on google maps and the pin settled down in the suburbs right outside the eastern part of Queens, near Lake Success.

"Well, that ought to help," Sally commented a bit drily. "Do you think we can get there tonight to check it out?"

Cindy shot her a most skeptical look. "I really don't think you should get anywhere close to them, what if you get hurt?" Sally just rolled her eyes at her.

"It's so strange to hear that from _you_, _twig_."

Cindy grinned. "You know I can throw punch through a wall, right?" She stuck her chin out and shot her a quirked brow, but her friend just pursed her lips and shook her head.

"Don't believe it 'til I see it," she scoffed and zoomed in on the house, changing to street view.

The screen before them showed a most picturesque house with large, grey stones covering the facade. A pale wooden wing had been added on the original building a few decades back and all the windows were framed with light brown shutters. The garden was green and well managed with lots of bushes covered with pink flowers. The picture had obviously been taken during the summer, but Cindy bet that it looked stunning during the winter as well, with a bunch of fairy lights in the bushes and maybe a snowman in the front yard.

"Blaine Orwell, is that anything you recognize?" Sally inquired and Cindy shook her head in reply, looking up at her friend with a frown.

"No, can you find out anything?"

"Cindy, I've got his social security number – I can steal his identity if I want to," she snarled and started tapping the keys of her laptop again, quietly muttering, "Which maybe isn't such a bad idea."

For a few moments the only sound that filled the room was the clicking and almost melodic sound of the keys, and maybe Cindy's growling stomach – seriously, it was like someone had stuffed a creaking door inside her.

"Here," Sally once again turned the screen her way and showed her the picture of a handsome, dark man with a well-kept stubble. His eyes were luminous hazel and despite not seeing them before – due to a pair of expensive sunglasses – Cindy instantly knew who it was.

"That's Kaiser," she pointed to the screen with a satisfied smirk.

"Do you think that Orwell's his undercover name or that Kaiser is?"

Cindy chewed on the inside of her cheek as her eyes once again fell upon the man on the screen and her eyes narrowed. "I think there's a bigger possibility that he's keeping his real identity from the public than from the Kingpin – he would probably find that out anyways."

Sally nodded slowly. "Yeah, that makes sense. So, I guess we need his real ID to track him down completely, but we should still check out the house. I might be able to hack the street cameras to see if he's really been there. He _could_ just be faking it."

"God, what would I do without you?" Cindy leaned her head against her best friend's shoulder and closed her eyes. There was no chance in hell that she would have gotten to where she was no without her help, plus that her moral support meant the world to her.

"One of life's many unanswerable questions."

It took her a while, closer to half an hour – during which time the spider-girl managed to finish off some history homework – but eventually Sally had managed to find a video that showed four different street cams all in one, one of which gave a fairly good view of the building's driveway. It took them another good twenty minutes of skimming back and forth before they finally found the familiar black car pulling in on the driveway.

"That's it!" Cindy clapped her hands together and stood up. A wave of calm and satisfaction rolled over her and suddenly she felt almost sleepy. "He's got to be living there!"

"Is that him?" Sally squinted her eyes and pointed at a dark figure exiting the car and walking over to the door. The quality wasn't that great and it was quite dark outside, and all Cindy could do was shrug.

"I suppose so. I mean, I guess we'll find out tonight." The two girls looked at each other and blinked. After a moment Sally pursed her lips and looked rather irked.

"So… I don't get to go with you?"

* * *

"Oh my God Sally oh my– I can't do this I _can't_ do this!"

Panic mixed with dread filled Cindy's stomach like a block of ice, and her eyes stung, threatening to well over at any second. This was the absolute worst outcome of the evening, and the worst thing was that she had never even considered this could happen. She was trapped.

"They're getting closer!" she wheezed into her comm and pressed her back against the tree trunk. She heard Sally sigh deeply.

"_For fuck's sake, it's just a few spiders."_

"But they're _big_!" she snapped and stared at the spider web a few inches from her nose with saucer-big eyes. Two dark spiders, both the size of golf balls, stared back at her and she swore they blinked at her.

She was currently seated on a quite a large branch in one of the tree's on a suburban street north of Lake Success, about ten miles from her home. The dusk kept her unseen from unwelcome eyes, although the streets were pretty much empty.

From the big oak she had a good view over the house that she and Sally had found earlier in the day, overlooking both the yard and the kitchen. She was fairly sure that this was where Kaiser was living, but the mission for the evening was to confirm that and see if she could find out anything else – perhaps he was living there with someone, or she could get a glimpse of his real ID.

Sally had upon further research found out that the person who was living there – Blaine Orwell – supposedly had a wife – Helena – and two kids that were off at boarding school, something they both commented was "_bullshit"_.

"_You're such a baby, Cin. You're like fifty percent spider yourself so consider them family."_

"I hate you."

"_You love me."_

"I hate you."

"_Can you __**please**_ _just focus on why you're there?" _

Cindy just groaned in reply and shuddered as she scooched to the side and onto a new branch, far away from the bugs, and leaned out into the air. The driveway was empty, but there was still the possibility that the car was in the garage, and a few lights were on inside the building. For example, she could clearly see the overfilled sink with dirty dishes.

"I can't see anything…"

The girl pondered for a moment before standing up straight, quickly looking out over the area to see that no one was around, even though her senses really would have picked up if someone was close – she had realized that she could discern the footsteps of a person four hundred yards away, so she was quite safe.

Taking a step out into the air she landed on a lower branch that was right outside the living room. It was decorated in a way that Cindy could only describe as strange. At first glance it looked like that perfect home everyone wanted, but upon looking closer she realized that something was off.

All the furniture looked very expensive and there was a big, cream-colored sofa in front of one of the largest TV-sets she had ever seen, and her mother would have died over the beautiful, Moroccan rug on the floor by the breath-taking fireplace. Extravagant paintings covered the walls and various, expensive collections of dictionaries rested in the bookcase. There was a huge – _huge_ – chandelier over the coffee table with crystals in very advanced patterns.

But something was _missing_.

It took Cindy a good while before realizing that all the areas where there should be some sort of personal detail were empty – no flowers in the windowsill, no pictures on the walls or in the bookshelves, no candles in the candle holders. The crystals of the chandelier were dull and dusty, and there wasn't a single magazine or newspaper in sight. Nothing that made the room even a little bit personal.

Cindy attached a string of web to the branch she was sitting on before allowing herself to slide off, ending up hanging upside-down outside the window.

"The living room's empty," she informed her friend but squinted her eyes. "The TV screen isn't completely black, I think it's in resting mode…"

"_Which means that he's probably home," _Sally finished for her. Her friend was currently lying on her bed at home with an episode of Grey's anatomy in the background, some episode she had already seen a few times, and jeez how she had complained about being stranded at home, but Cindy had refused to let her come.

First of all, she was not going to let Sally get mixed up in all this Kingpin stuff – it was bad enough that her father was involved – and second of all, if anything happened she had no way of defending herself. That alone was reason enough to not let her come.

Sally had also insisted that Cindy should wear some sort of live-GoPro so she could see what Cindy saw, and since she had to get her will through in one way or another there was currently a small camera attached to the collar of her black and white long-sleeve. It was very bad quality, however, so she might as well have ditched it.

"Wait!" she suddenly hissed and quickly swung her way up to the branch again and crouched, narrowing her eyes at one of the dark rooms.

"_What? What's happening?"_

"I hear something…" Very well, a few seconds later the bathroom lit up and she saw Kaiser – or _Orwell_ – himself walking up to the sink and start brushing his teeth. His face was a bit puffy and his eyes so narrowed that his forehead had become slightly creased. He must have just woken up, Cindy quickly deduced. At eight-fifteen p.m.… "It's Kaiser, he's in the bathroom."

"_Ew."_

"He's brushing his teeth," Cindy rolled her eyes at her, despite being twenty miles apart. "He looks like he's getting ready, like he's just woken up."

"_What? Are you sure? Can't he just be getting ready to go to bed, maybe he's really tired."_ But there was something more to it, Cindy's gut was sure of it.

After a few minutes of brushing his teeth and examining his short beard he splashed some water in his face and then left the room as dark as it had been before. Cindy swiftly jumped down to the ground – it was a ten feet drop so she was fine – and crouched in the bushes below the kitchen window. She carefully peeked in and sure enough, a few moments later he walked in, now fully dressed in a smart shirt and a pair of navy blue pants.

She ignored Sally cursing at her about something in her comm and instead watched with curiosity as the man indoors heated up some leftover chicken, but there was one thing in her friend's rambles that actually caught her attention. "…_and if the tracker…"_

"The tracker…" she whispered and quickly crouched again, digging up the device from one of her pockets.

The car was in the garage, it had to be, and she had no way of getting in – she had already checked it for windows and all she found was this really long, half-foot thin thing on the backside. If Kaiser was leaving then she had to follow it, and she had to make sure to somehow attach the tracker. On a moving vehicle. Without being noticed. "Sally, we have a problem!"

Cindy sprinted through the empty back yard and jumped onto the roof of the garage without much difficulty. Since the garage and the house were connected to each other and there was no windows on the second floor facing her way, she didn't have to worry about being seen.

"_What can I do? Shit, I told you I should have been there with you! I could have brought the–"_

"The car's in the garage and I have to attach the tracker, but I think Kaiser might be leaving soon."

"_Isn't that a good thing?"_

Cindy was quiet for a moment, furrowing her brows. "Explain yourself."

"_Well, you can't get into the garage without him opening it for you, can you?"_

"It's a moving car, how am I supposed to stick it on without a: being run over, and b: him noticing me? It's not like it's a sticker!" No, the tracker was about the size of a smartphone but thicker, and she'd have to fiddle quite a bit to get it stuck onto the car's undercarriage.

"_I say you follow him until he stops and then do it," _Sally suggested unbothered.

"And what if he's going to meet up with the other ones? I can't get noticed."

"_Touché. You have to do it while it's running. But are you sure he's even leaving?"_

"Let me check," Cindy grumpily muttered back and climbed up onto the house's roof, ran – carefully – across it, and then swung down on the other side, having attached a thick string of web to the chimney. She landed on the grass softly and peeked into the kitchen. Empty. The only thing that was different was that a a coffee cup had been added to the pile of dishes and a carton of empty milk had been left on the table. She moved a few steps to the side and looked into the living room area but it was empty as well, although the TV had been properly turned off now. Backing a few steps she glimpsed up to the upstairs windows but both were dark.

Suddenly Cindy's whole body shivered, leaving a trail of goosebumps, and a sharp, screeching noise suddenly reached her sensitive ears. Her eyes widened as a wave of cuss words washed over her mind.

"Yeah, I'm definitely sure."

Running over to the other end of the house she could very clearly see the source of the sound – the rising garage door. A few seconds later the dark car backed out all the way down to the street and drove off in the western direction. Once she was sure she was out of sight from the driver she sprinted after.

"Sally!" she yelled, although not entirely sure of what she wanted her to do. "He's getting away!"

"_Okay okay, calm down!"_ She sounded pretty stressed herself but quickly regained her confidence. "_Run to your left, through the gardens!"_

She knew that her friend was keeping track of her through her computer and trusted her judgement, so she veered left and jumped over a tall fence, ending up in someone else's yard. She'd known if someone had been there, but still she was careful and sticked to the darker parts before finally jumping across another fence and ending up on the grounds of a flashy mansion. A few kids were playing in the pool but only a dog noticed her sprinting through the bushes, but no one as much as batted an eye in her direction, simply dismissing it as a cat or something.

"_Okay now there's just one house left and then you're back on the road again,"_ Sally called in her comm as she climbed over the last fence. The garden wasn't that big and peeking to the side she could see a dark car coming her way.

Cindy looked up as she ran and found a grand chestnut tree right by the driveway and quickly shot up a string of web from each hand. She flew smoothly through the air until she could grab on to one of the thicker branches and he car was only a few yards away now. She knew she had to be fast, very fast, if she wanted to succeed.

When the hood of the car was right under her, she threw herself in the direction it had come from, hooking a few strings of web to the branch behind her and using it to swing in a circle-like motion, causing her to softly land on the back of the car without making nearly any sound at all.

"I'm on board," she whispered into her device – although she had no need to worry about being heard – and Sally made an approving sound on the other end.

Carefully, Cindy climbed further down so she was completely out of sight from the rearview mirror and instead dangerously close to the spinning tires. She gulped as she leaned forwards and ended up only inches away from the road, so close the ends of her hair was dragging along the ground.

"I think I can secure it," she gulped dubiously and nearly fell off as the car suddenly veered to the right and onto a bigger street. She was so lucky this was a really calm neighborhood with minimum traffic – if they'd been anywhere else right now she'd be toast.

"_Be careful!"_ Sally stressed. "_And you have to make sure it really sticks on, otherwise it'll just fall off the next time it hits a bump in the road."_ The nervous tone in her voice revealed how anxious she really was.

Cindy pulled up the tracking device from her pocket and carefully extended her arm below the undercarriage and hissed as her hand touched something scalding hot, causing her to nearly drop the device.

"You okay?" Sally immediately checked, sounding a fair amount of worried.

"Burned my hand," she muttered back before gently blowing on the red spot on her hand. In order to safely secure it she'd have to bend even further in under the car, something that made her stomach tingle in a most uncomfortable way. "Damn it."

The short girl, who was currently clinging onto the back of a racing car driven by an associate of the Kingpin, probably one of America's most dangerous men, took a deep breath. Leaning even closer to the ground she regretted not having pulled her hair into a short pony tail, but there was no time for that now. Her eyes and nose finally peeked over the bumper and saw all these different pipes and stuff. Jeez, no one in her family had any clue when it came to cars and she had absolutely no interest in them. However, right now she didn't need to.

"Where the hell am I supposed to place it?" She had to yell in order to hear herself and frowned.

"_Okay so, you should be able to stick it onto the fuel tank. That's probably the safest spot."_

A short moment of silence followed. "And what does that look like?" Sally sighed in the other end of the comm.

"_It's like a big box. Dark, probably grey or black. It kind of looks like a small case."_ Cindy leaned in a little closer and then she saw it – a grey-ish box about an arm's length away.

"I'm not sure I can reach it!"

Suddenly the whole car convulsed as it hit a bump in the road and once again Cindy had to grip on tightly in order to not fall off.

"_You don't have a choice, Cin. I'm sorry. You have to do it before he gets to where he's going, otherwise they might see you!"_

She hated it when she was right.

With a large lump in her throat, Cindy carefully stretched forwards as far as she could go, but there was still a few inches of air between her and the fuel tank. _Dang it!_

Cindy's neck tingled and the tiers screeched as the car suddenly turned a sharp left and Cindy shrieked. They were accelerating quickly and by now they must be going closer to sixty miles per hour.

"I can't do it!" Tears had begun to form in the corners of her eyes. Five inches. Five bloody inches stopped her from a huge step forwards in the search of finding the Kingpin and taking down his business. Five inches to save her dad.

The car veered again, causing her short hair to fly dangerously close to one of the wheels – getting stuck in that thing was certainly _not_ on her list. She had to get the tracker in place, and she had to do it quickly so no one noticed her, ally of the Kingpin or not.

She heard Sally curse on the other end for a good while before finally speaking up. "_Cindy, I know it's scary but you're gonna have to trust me on this; you have to crawl farther in."_

"What! You crazy?"

"_You're small and sticky, you won't fall off." _Cindy could practically hear the "_I hope…" _at the end of the sentence.

"If I die, I'm gonna kill you!" she hissed through gritted teeth and leant forwards even more, starting to climb the bottom side of the car, careful not to touch any hot pipes. Inch by inch she crawled closer until her fingers finally touched the edge of the tank, the loud wind whipping around her body and in her ears. Small pieces of gravel bounced off the front wheels and were hitting her hard – surely she would have a bunch of funny-looking bruises tomorrow.

"_Cindy, how are you doing?"_ Sally's voice was really tense now and her breath was on the top of her lungs.

"Almost…"

The car veered to the right again and Cindy's right foot slipped, causing her to almost fall in front of one of the racing tires. At the last second she managed to straighten herself up and with a frustrated noise she smacked the tracker onto the fuel tank, taking a few seconds to fiddle with it so secure it, and just as she was about to laugh in victory, the car stopped dead in its tracks.

Cindy, small and light as she was, flew straight forwards underneath the car and knocked her head right into something hard – the curb. She groaned, and blinked, not seeing anything but stars for a good moment, but then she heard the front door open and close followed by footsteps. Cindy realized she was still underneath the car and that it had been parked somewhere.

"Where the heck are we?" she hissed while rubbing the back of her head that throbbed like hell. She listened closely for other voices but it was quiet.

"_You're not gonna believe this."_

"What? Tell me!"

"_Okay, so, if you just peek out…" _

With a deep frown on her face, Cindy followed her friend's advice and nearly dropped her chin into the pavement when she realized where they was.

"We're at a _supermarket_?" The big sign was clear and bright and a handful of people exited through the entrance as Kaiser disappeared in. Now that she had regained her senses (although her head was still throbbing like hell) she carefully crawled out from underneath the car and took a minute to really take in the scene.

There was about a dozen cars in the quite large parking lot and not many people at all, just an elderly couple fighting over wether they forgot to buy something or not and a couple of teenage boys close to the entrance, doing some banks with their skateboards. Just a regular evening in the suburbs, nothing strange as far as the eye could see.

"_Do they have a meeting __**here**__?"_ Sally sounded just as surprised as Cindy was. "_Maybe you should just hide and see what happens. I mean, he can't be doing anything business in there, right? You'll see if he drives off, and since you got the tracker in place you can follow from a distance."_

"Thank God for that," she scoffed and stretched out her back by raising her arms over her head.

A moment later she was sitting on the roof of the supermarket, watching the parking lot like a hawk and after about fifteen minutes she spotted Kaiser's familiar body exiting the store with a big bag of groceries in his arms.

"He's bought cheetos and ice cream and some sort of soda… What the heck, did I nearly get my back scraped off following him to by snacks?"

"_Oh, man. Were __**we**_ _wrong…"_ Sally added quietly. "_Well, maybe he's gonna go to a colleague's place and like watch a movie and do each other's hair while sharing their evil plans?"_

He wasn't.

Cindy followed him all the way back to the house where he quite comfortably snuggled up in front of the TV with his newly purchased snacks. It took about fifteen minutes of watching him before she got tired of waiting and both she and Sally agreed on that it was time time for her to come home. Sally would keep an eye on the tracker and call her if he went somewhere while Cindy was hurrying home – they had agreed that she would sleep at Sally's since her parents were out of town and therefore wouldn't be questioned why she was out half the evening while Sally was back home. The very thought of the mattress on Sally's bedroom floor put a big smile on Cindy's lips as she started to swing back toward Manhattan.

She found a bus to hitch-hike on – lay flat on the roof and look at the stars – which meant that it took her way less time to get back to Queens than it had to get there in the first place, and since the buildings were closer and taller she could swing quite quickly. Since it was New York after all she had to stick to the darker, less crowded places of the city to avoid being seen. Of course there were people there too, but with a bit of extra care she managed to pass unnoticed.

New York at night time was magical, like some sort of dystopian, futuristic forest. It smelled like cigarette smoke and carbon dioxide with just a hint of garbage, and the sound of honking cars was a constant, but she loved it nonetheless.

Turning in on a side-street in quite a fancy neighborhood just a few miles south of where Sally lived she spotted a lonely girl walking farther down the alleyway. She had long, blond hair that bounced off her back as she walked and there was something about her strides that seemed familiar. Curiosity got the best of her and instead of turning left where she should have, she instead continued crawling on the wall straight forwards with a tilted head.

The girl had a pink handbag and a black coat that had some sort of feather-fur around the edges, while her long legs were parked in a pair of semi heeled white boots. Cindy knew that girl, she had seen her in school last week, walking down one of the mint green corridors with that pink bag casually swinging on her arm, chiming "hi"'s and "hello"'s at a few people before continuing into the chem lab.

Lara. The girl was Lara!

A small smile formed on Cindy's lips at the realization and after giving the always-so-kind girl a final look, knowing that they would be seeing each other in A.P. calculus the following day, she turned around and started climbing back toward the crossing. However, just a few seconds after she'd turned around she heard a muffled shriek and an icy cold shiver fled up her spine – her senses told her that something was wrong, _very_ wrong.

As her head whipped around she managed to catch a glimpse of wispy, blond hair disappear behind a wall. _Oh no._

She sent out a string of web that caught onto a balcony and in a quick motion swung to where her classmate had been only a few seconds ago. As she looked down a narrow alleyway her eyes widened.

Lara – sweet, innocent, slightly spoiled, sharp-as-a-tack Lara – was dragged by two gigantic men, one holding her by her arms and the other covering her mouth with his hand as they walked. The girl was facing Cindy's but was too panicked to notice her, her head whipping in all directions and frantically trying to kick her way out of it, but she was helpless against the men twice her size. Cindy could hear her muffled cries underneath the heavy hand and a fire began to grow inside of her.

Without waiting a second longer, Cindy jumped up onto a wall where she would have the advantage and shot out a few strings of web that stuck the man who was holding Lara by her arms's foot to the ground, causing him to fall onto his back with the girl on top of him. The other man stared at his colleague with a most displeased frown, believing he had just been clumsy enough to trip over his own feet, but before he could manage to say anything, his whole right arm was stuck to the wall behind him.

For a moment the two men were stunned and Lara had her chance to get out, if it hadn't been for the fact that she was staring at Cindy – Silk – with wide and icy blue eyes.

"What the-" the guy on the ground started and stared at his foot with a frown before noticing that his grip on the girl had slipped and quickly caught her by her wrist while standing up and trying to kick off the white goo. The other man swore vividly while pulling at the web on his arm and getting even more frustrated as his fingers got stuck in it.

"Help! Hel-" Lara shrieked but was quickly silenced by a blow from the man who was still holding onto her wrist.

"You _shut_ it," he commanded while in a swift motion pulling out a knife from his back pocket and slicing through her web, walking over to his friend and doing the same thing to his web before pointing it at Lara. "Say one more word and I'll gut ya." Lara looked like she was stuck between crying and barfing.

Okay, change of plans. Now she _had_ to really step in.

As Lara's head whipped in her direction to once again look at the strange person on the wall, Cindy let herself drop to the ground, landing in – what Sally would call – a "superhero position". The two men finally noticed her and both of them took a defensive step backwards while not letting their eyes off off you. The guy who was holding Lara positioned the girl in front of him with the knife resting on her throat, forming a visible dimple on her neck.

"And who the hell are you supposed to be?" he asked in a poisonous tone, his eyes dark. Both he and the other guy looked to be in their late thirties and both of them had short, short hair, almost so that they shaved it. The other man, however, had green eyes and a more rough appearance, compared to his friend who could actually be described as quite decent-looking.

Cindy straightened herself, looking him dead in the eye with her fists clenched at her sides.

"Your worst nightmare," she replied in a hoarse voice, dead-serious, before relaxing her stance and placing a hand on her hip. "Sorry I just had to. However, if you don't let her go, I'm not gonna be a sweet dream either."

The two men exchanged looks before the one holding Lara – who's eyes were red and watery – turned and started walking to their car parked at the end of the alley while the other one chuckled to himself, revealing a foot long knife from his belt.

"Look girl, you don't want to get yourself into a lot of trouble," he took a step toward her, casually examining his knife as he spoke, "believe me. Either beat it or I'm gonna peel your face off." Woah, this guy was dark.

"As fun as that would be, I sort of have something else in mind." Without further ado, Cindy shot out a string of web that caught the man's knife and snatched it from his hands. It landed about twenty yards away, way out of his reach. Her next move was to jump in his direction, landing in a roll and using her leg to swipe him off his feet. On his way down his head knocked against a nearby garbage can and he was out. "I wouldn't call that a lot of trouble."

By now the other guy and Lara had almost reached the car, but they were still in reach.

Holding up her hand in front of her she closed one eye and aimed before shooting a cluster of web that stuck onto the door. She could her him fiddle with the handle and smirked as she fell into a sprint, quickly closing the distance between them.

"For fuck's sake," the guy shouted as he lost his temper and upon finding the white goo on top of the door he looked over his shoulder with a most annoyed expression. "Bitch."

Cindy was really close now and the man yet again positioned Lara in front of him with the knife pressed against her throat. With just a few yards to go Cindy stopped and raised her hands, staring at him with a determined frown. As quickly as she had unarmed the last guy she caught the guy's hand with a string of web and pulled it back with such force that his wrist made a sound it really shouldn't do, causing him to drop the weapon on the ground. Suddenly, Lara was free.

"Run," Cindy hissed at her and nodded in the direction they had come from. She took a step forwards but seemed unsure, her eyes were still lingering on Cindy's face and she really hoped she didn't recognize her. She realized that she had to do something uncharacteristic, _and_ make sure she got her ass out of there. "If you don't leave now I'll let him take you."

That really got her going. Without giving Cindy a second glance she sprinted past the knocked-out guy on the ground, picked up her pink handbag that she'd dropped, and raced the hell out of there. Cindy watched her until she was out of sight, exhaling as she figured that she was out of danger.

A spot on her neck tingled uncomfortably and before she knew it she had bent backwards, avoiding a hit from the still very conscious man. He did not look happy. She decided to go for his legs and threw a punch at the back of his knee, forcing him down to his knees before punching him square in the face, knocking him out as well.

"Easy peasy," she chimed to herself as she examined her hands and sighed as she realised that she had managed to break two nails. But that was a worry for later, right now she had to call the police and then Sally. Boy she was not going to believe her ears.

* * *

**And of course we're gonna finish off with some incorrect quotes! (bonus points if you can guess where I got them from)**

**Ned:** Can I go ride my rollerblades outside?

**Sally:** Whatever, I'm not your mother.

**Ned:** *runs off*

**Sally:** NOT IN THE STREET!

**I love these but it's always such a struggle finding them.**

**Cindy:** I did a bad thing.

**Sally:** Does it affect me?

**Cindy:** No.

**Sally:** Then suffer in silence.

**By the way I recently started watching Parks and Recreation and oh man what a beautiful show, I absolutely love it and if you haven't seen it yet, you really should!**

**Sally:** Hey, I'm Sal – short for Sally.

**Cindy:** I'm Cindy. I'm just short.

**And now a final one and then off to bed.**

**Peter and Cindy:** *laughs*

**Sally:** What's so funny?

**Peter:** Cindy told a joke.

**Sally:** No, Cindy _is_ a joke.

**Good night everyone and sleep tight (or good morning I guess?), don't forget to review and answer the poll on my profile page, love you all!**


	18. Chapter 17

**Back again, and soon this time! Not as much action stuff happening in this chapter but more regular teen-spider stuff going on, with a few Cinter scenes (we're gonna get a lot more of those in the future!) and I'm actually really happy with how it turned out, so hope you enjoy it!**

**I'm gonna keep this A/N rather short this time since it's late and I'm tired, but I wanna remind you to go vote on the poll on my profile to be able to have a say in which day of the week I should update this story on. Currently fridays and saturdays are in the lead, so if you wanna keep it that way – or change it – I suggest go go take a look. **

**Thanks for all the great reviews (which I am too tired to answer properly right now, apologies) and favoriting/following, so big shout out to Hearteyesmf, Notary Sojac, SnuffleTruff (darling), FigurativelyDying, Volos, tzu753, SmaugTheSmug, Jana shorbaji, SparkBomb'sFaith, Lauraaa9889, and PercabethRaven!**

* * *

"This is crazy," Sally muttered in Cindy's ear and she couldn't help but blush.

Last night she had saved Lara Grant from two huge men that were trying to drag her into their car. Only a short while later, the girl in question had released a few videos on her instagram, telling everyone about what had happened to her and about the heroic Silk that had saved her; an action that caused the hot topic of the day to be the short gal clad in black and white.

Who was she and where had she come from? She had been on the news briefly but that hadn't given many answers. Was she New York's latest heroine? Everywhere the two girls went that morning they could hear people whisper about how horrifying it was that Lara almost had been kidnapped and "_thank God for that Silk!"_.

They walked past a group of three girls who were in their grade, all of which really wished they were part of Lara's 'gang', chatting about that Silk was their "_new hero"_ and that they felt "_so much safer knowing she watched over them all"_, all while giving Cindy a disgusted look. She _had_ spilt half a bottle of water on one of them during last semester, so she guessed she had it coming.

"You're a celebrity," Sally commented drily with an unimpressed expression, but the spark in her eyes revealed how excited she truly was. Cindy, however, was not quite as intrigued.

"This is so, so bad," she hissed through gritted teeth. "I don't want people to know about me!" Her friend placed a reassuring arm around her shoulders as they walked, not really knowing what to say to comfort her.

"Look, it's probably just a fling. People are gonna talk about it for a few days and then it will go away. You just have to keep a little low this next week, that's all." She was about to continue but was interrupted by the intro of the school's news program, starring Betty Brant and Jason Ionello.

"_What's up Midtown High,"_ Jason started, raising his hand over his head in an informal greeting, causing his co-host to glare at him.

"_Jason!"_ she hissed before turning back to the camera with a big smile on her lips. "_Good morning fellow students!" _She cleared her throat a little before she continued, "_No one seems to have missed the biggest Midtown news this week: Lara Grant,"_ a picture of the blond appeared on the screen next to them, "_was almost kidnapped last night."_

"_Yeah, but she was saved by no one less than New York's latest superhero, Silk!"_ Jason continued as they cut to the video Lara had posted last night. Her long hair was messy and her eyes were all teared up as she hurried through the city, only moments after running off from the scene where they both had been.

"_I was just attacked by these two men and, um, and I… I just got out of there."_ They cut back to Jason and Betty. That had been a fragment of the first video Lara had posted on her instagram, the second had been posted a few hours later when she had calmed down and she had told a more detailed story, including a fair description of Silk. However, Betty and Jason were still not satisfied.

"_We have her on the line with us right now! Morning Lara, how are you doing?"_ Jason asked and Cindy's stomach burned as she watched with wide eyes, nervously chewing on her chipped nails.

"_Hi,"_ the invisible girl chimed, "_I'm fine. Still a little shook from yesterday but everyone's been so supportive."_

"_Of course,"_ Betty nodded into the camera with a serious face. "_Can you tell us more about Silk – who saved you – since there are no actual pictures of her?"_

"_Yeah, sure."_

"Okay, maybe this is not just a fling," Sally muttered with dark eyes fixed on the screen.

All Cindy wanted to do was to disappear, but her feet were nailed to the floor.

"_Well, obviously she's a girl, but she wore a mask over her nose and mouth so it's quite hard to describe her features. She had quite short, dark hair, though, and she's asian."_

Suddenly, everyone within a ten yard radius turned to look at her. Cindy gulped as her eyes darted around the hallway, feeling drops of sweat appearing on the back of her neck. She subconsciously tugged at the end of her short ponytail.

"Racist bastards!" Sally grunted loudly with a most challenging gleam in her eyes and the people looked away, returning to what they'd previously done. Cindy exhaled and leaned her head on Sally's shoulder.

Once Lara had finished describing what Silk had been wearing that night, the segment was over and the pair moved over to talking about the wave of tests the seniors had the coming week and the audience began to scatter, heading off to second period. Cindy and Sally would have to hurry off as well in order to be in time for english, a class she truly dreaded today.

"Hey come on," Sally poked her with her elbow as they began to walk again. "After all this Kingpin stuff you can go back to being you, right?"

"Right," Cindy nodded. That sounded like a dream. Sure, she would probably keep helping people out every now and then, but she was really looking forward to just being herself again and focus on things like homework and her family. Maybe she could join a sports team, or get an extra job?

"And we have both the tracker and Martin, so we're bound to find out _something_ quite soon."

"Right," she replied again as they headed through the doorway and into their english classroom. Cindy's eyes immediately flickered to her table where Peter was already seated. He must have heard them, or at least gotten a hunch that she was there, because he peeked over his shoulder and looked right at her. His face was plain and expressionless and he took a deep breath before looking down at the notebook in front of him, tapping the butt of the pen against the table.

"See ya later," Sally muttered before walking off toward her and Ned's usual table, adding a quick, "don't be a child."

The girl's heart fluttered as she walked towards him with her fingers clenched around the straps of her backpack. The scenes from yesterday's P.E. lesson flashed in front of her eyes – she'd told him she didn't wanna be friends anymore and he'd responded with walking off, reassuring her that he'd leave her alone. What she really wanted to do right there and then was to turn around on the spot and head out the door. Unfortunately, that was not an option.

She pulled out her chair smoothly and sat down, turning away from Peter and instead focused on getting her stuff. They had avoided speaking to each other for the last half of their gym class and had kept as far away from each other as possible during their decathlon practice.

Cindy looked up at him, but the boy was still looking down at the table, focusing on reading his notes from a past lesson. She noticed he was wearing a checked shirt underneath a thin, blue pullover – that didn't quite hide his arm muscles – and his hair had been neatly smoothed back with gel. This was the most orderly he had looked in weeks.

After a few seconds she looked away, mindlessly rolling up the end of her sleeves – she was wearing one of her favorite sweatshirt, it had been her mother's when she was young and had a very happy Mickey Mouse print on it. As Mr. Herman spoke up and started the lesson, the young girl sighed in relief, hoping that today's class would be a more of a "_sit quiet and listen"_ hour rather than "_please discuss among each other"_. Turned out he had a whole lecture prepared and seemed to – despite the early hour – already be done with chatty teenagers for the day. After a few minutes of quickly scribbling down everything her teacher said she had even forgotten about the boy beside her.

The hour actually passed by quite quickly and with minimal interaction with anyone of her classmates. She also got a few ideas on things she should add to their assignment, which was something she dreaded to continue with. Her current plan was to argue that they should divide the work and write on it separately, but nonetheless, they still would have to meet up on tuesday for the play. She had really been looking forward to it, up to the point where they had stopped talking to each other, that was.

Eventually, the bell rang and the students scrambled out of their chairs. Cindy practically threw her stuff into her backpack before darting toward the entrance where she stopped and searched for Sally in the back of the class. Their eyes met and her friend gave a quirked brow before nodding her head toward the front of the room and Cindy could just watch as the girl, along with Ned, walked over to their teacher to ask something about the assignment. Cindy's next class was A.P. calculus and since her calculator's battery had died, Sally had offered to lend hers.

_Crippety crap_, she thought – one of A.J.'s favorite expressions – and leaned against the wall with a sigh.

Her fellow classmates walked past her and out the door as she waited and it wasn't until a familiar voice spoke up that she looked up, her forehead immediately frowning.

"I heard about what happened to Lara," Peter mumbled, low enough to keep unwelcome ears from hearing.

Cindy scoffed. "Yeah, well, the whole school seems to." The girl crossed her arms in front of her and looked down at them. If they hadn't been in their current cold war going on she knew it would have been really nice to talk all this through with him, since he was sort of going through the same thing. But, she couldn't bare any more ups-and-downs with him, it was too exhausting and frankly, it hurt.

Peter crossed his arms as well, leaning his shoulder against the wall. He was standing so close to her that she could smell the familiar scent of rose soap.

"I just wanna say," he began but paused to consider his words. Eventually he looked up and his chocolate eyes melted into hers. "All these people are talking about what happened and they don't even know it's you. I just wanna say… Good job, I guess." As he finished the sentence he looked down again.

Cindy was stunned. That was about the last thing she had expected him to say. Even Sally – who she forever would love and adore – hadn't said anything close to that. Truth was, it felt really good to hear and a sting of pride washed over her. Before she could even begin to say anything, however, the boy noticed something unusual on her arms.

"Hey, are… Are those bruises?" Without further notice, Peter had taken one of her arms in his hands and examined the little yellow spots that freckled her skin, his forehead in a concerned frown. For a moment the girl was stunned, unable to do anything but watch him examine her arm and feel the tingle of his fingertips brushing over her skin. A student that passed them by yelled something to their friend snapped her out of her trance.

Cindy quickly snatched her arm back and rolled down her sleeve, instinctively taking a step back. Her whole body was covered with the little spots after last night's adventure underneath the car, where the little stones and gravel had sputtered on her like shots from a machine gun.

"Look," she noticed that Sally and Ned were done talking to Mr. Herman and were heading in their direction, "I appreciate it, but like I said yesterday I think it's better if we keep out of each other's way."

The light in Peter's eyes faltered and he readjusted the backpack on his shoulder.

"Right," he replied shortly, his jaws noticeably clenched. By the looks of it he remembered their last conversation. "I guess I'll see you thursday then." The two of them _did _have a couple classes together the next few days – not to mention decathlon practice – so she assumed he indicated that they would not be speaking to one another. The boy then proceeded to hurry out the door, shifting his body as he walked past her so that he was sure they wouldn't touch.

Damn.

Sally, only a few yards away, shot her a glare as she saw the way Peter had walked off. She still had no idea what was going on between them but was getting real tired of whatever it was.

"So, calculator?" Cindy chimed with a strained smile.

* * *

The tuesday pretty much disappeared in a whiz of math numbers, geography, and a whole load o history assignments, with a material arts class on top of that that had Cindy's limbs burning by the end of the night, despite her super strength. Cindy had continued to avoid talking to Sally about what was going on between her and Peter, and her friend – although annoyed – respected her enough to leave it be.

However, she was still on her ass the whole wednesday about finding more information about Kaiser and the Kingpin. Ever since Cindy had attached the tracker to the car, Sally had followed his every step and she was really disappointed to inform that the only place he had gone to was the supermarket again. She really thought they should contact Martin again, but Cindy was growing really tired of him. Anytime she ever wanted to get some information off of him he turned out to be pretty much useless, but on the wednesday afternoon he decided to prove her wrong.

"Sally!" Cindy dragged her friend not-so carefully to the side and into an empty hallway.

"Eh, _ouch_?" her friend hissed back while rubbing her arm. "You really have to–"

"Martin just texted me!" she yelled back in a hushed voice, her eyes wide from excitement and light panic. While Sally glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching them, Cindy fished up her phone from her pocket and started searching through her messages. "Look!"

Sally took the phone from her hands and muttered softly while she read, Cindy pacing the floor nervously in the meantime.

"Meeting, Willet's point, industrial area. Eight p.m. sunday. Boss present." She read it again, quietly this time, before looking up with excitement shining through her face. "Dude this is awesome! Do you know what this means?" Stopped in her tracks and drew her hands through her hair, taking a deep breath.

"The Kingpin is gonna be there."

The two girls looked at each other for a moment, both in need to take in the news.

It was crazy, it was insane, but in a few days, Cindy would find out who the Kingpin actually was, and she would do anything within her power to crumble his business into pieces. She, a fourteen year old girl, was the only one who could take him down.

In other words, the pair had spent most of the wednesday afternoon and evening preparing, going over what tech they would need, looking at satellite pictures of the area, coming up with back-up plans and back-up back-up plans. Anything they deemed might be necessary. Since Cindy had plans for the thursday – she truly regretted suggesting they should go and see that stupid play – they only had two more days to prepare.

Speaking of thursday, it was a complete mess.

Cindy had barely gotten any sleep at all, laying awake all night and thinking about saturday and what was at stake. At four a.m. she had given up and flomped down by her computer and in the two and a half hours that went by before her alarm rang, she managed to finish some homework that was actually due the very same day. It's strange how you can go from one minute perfecting your plan to take down _the_ Kingpin, to the next writing about the Constitution and the Founding Fathers. Two completely different worlds.

By half past seven she had received three messages from Sally where she added a few things they'd missed and needed to consider, but it was too early to deal with that and she just clicked them away. By the time she was leaving her house she had received three more.

Both her and Sally's day started off with chemistry and Cindy walked up to her lab partner with butterflies in her stomach, but Lara didn't seem to recognize her at all from two nights ago and instead started chatting lightheartedly about some party that was going down saturday evening, inviting both her and Sally even though she wasn't hosting it.

The rest of the day went by so slowly that Cindy almost wanted to punch through a wall just to make something happen. She was too nervous to eat anything during lunch, and by the time her decathlon practice had finished she groaned as she realized that she would only have about forty five minutes at home before having to come back for the play. And she couldn't even bitch about it in front of Sally.

"_No, you can't ditch your play-date,"_ pun intended, "_because you want to prep more for the meeting; we've got things under control. Plus, we have the whole of tomorrow __**and**_ _all of saturday to continue."_

"But–"

"_**Plus**__, it's just a matter of time before you're gonna be friends again and then you'll just regret it." _

Cindy crossed her arms in front of her and pouted, even though her friend couldn't see her. "You know everything, now, don't you?" she muttered grumpily.

"_Yep,"_ Sally smacked on the other end and she heard how she tapped the keys on her computer. Cindy took another bite of her peanut butter sandwich before continuing.

"Can you at least go over the plan and see if you can find anything we've missed? Or maybe check out if you can track down any related people to the ones we already know?" There was a pause. She knew Sally was thinking hard on something because the tapping on her laptop had stopped. "Sal?"

"_Actually, since you and Peter are going to work on your assignment tonight, Ned and I thought that we would do the same. He's gonna be here any minute now."_

Cindy's lips tugged into a wide grin as she snickered. "Wow, is meeting your parents already? Or are you sneaking him in while they're away?"

"_Oh shut up!" _Sally barked, angry like a bee. She avoided answering the question, though, and Cindy's giggles just continued. "_You better watch it; I have a lot of dirt on you, something might slip out!"_

"Right," she smiled and rolled her eyes, "tell Ned I said hi." She ended the call before Sally could scold her further and smushed the last piece of sandwich into her mouth.

It was around half past five and she had about fifteen minutes before she had to leave and would have to change into something more formal then a vintage sweater and mom-jeans. Dressing herself up really wasn't on her top-ten list, but eventually she managed to pull on a pair of black jeans and a pretty blouse she had gotten on her birthday last year. It was dark blue with shimmering spots of silver and she really liked it, but since it was a bit too fancy for school she was actually quite satisfied with putting it into good use.

She met her dad and A.J in the hallway on her way out and since her mom – who was supposed to make tonight's dinner – was stuck at work, her father chivalrously offered to drive her to the school and buy some take-out as they dropped her off. The kind action caused her to get there twenty minutes earlier than she had expected and she greedily, and not-so gracefully, gulped down a halloumi burger before waving goodbye to her family and heading over to Midtown High's impressive entrance, where a bunch of people stood either waiting for their company or smoking a final cigarette before having to go inside.

Since she and Peter weren't really on speaking terms she had no idea where they would meet up. She could always wait outside the entrance, but the smoke would have her cough in a most unladylike manner, so she decided to wait right inside instead. Walking through the heavy doors, she realized the boy had had the very same idea.

About thirty feet away from her, right by the water fountain, Peter was leaning casually against the wall. He was dressed in beige chinos and a really nice-looking, white shirt that was well-ironed ironed, and he was smiling wryly down at his phone while writing something.

Something heavy twisted inside Cindy's stomach and she felt like ripping her guts out, but as she realized she was feeling this way because she thought he was writing with a girl, she instead froze.

She did _not_ think of him like that anymore. She was _not_ crushing on Peter Parker, and she did _not_ care if he was dating someone. As a matter of fact, she was glad for his sake.

"It's starting now," she announced through rather clenched teeth, crossing her arms, and continued down the hallway to the auditorium without waiting for an answer. She heard him jog after her and fell into step beside her – her steps were quicker than his, but his strides were longer so they evened out.

"Evening," he mumbled under his breath as to make a point and stuck his hands deep into his pockets. The cordial smile he had been wearing a few seconds earlier had been replaced with a scowl.

The two teens walked beside each other in silence, passing familiar classrooms and corridors, places they had shared plenty of memories. They walked past a few lockers where Cindy remembered that she – pre-spider – had runned straight into him and almost fallen over.

It felt strange to walk next to someone you had known for pretty much your whole life and not do the small talk. It would have been so easy for her to ask about May, or joke about the fact that Ned and Sally were spending the night with each other, or mention that the academic decathlon regionals wasn't too far away; but that was before they found out about each other. Maybe they just couldn't be friends now. Maybe, knowing each other's secrets was too much pressure.

After a solid five minutes walk they reached the grand auditorium and found their seats, quite close to the stage and a little bit to the right. People chatted all around them and it felt even stranger to sit in silence than it had to walk.

Shaking the thoughts out of her head, Cindy pulled up a small notebook from the pocket of her coat, about a fourth the size of a regular one. She had already filled a few pages with questions and plot points from Shakespeare's original _Romeo and Juliet_ and read through them once again just to have something to do – it wasn't like she needed it, she _had_ an eidetic memory. She noticed Peter pulling out something similar and scribbling down a few sentences, but she couldn't make out what.

Suddenly, the lights blinked on and off and a voice in the speakers asked them to please be seated and not to leave in the middle of the show unless necessary. A boy Cindy recognized from the school's drama club walked out onto the stage and introduced himself as the director and took a good few minutes to talk about the play and "what an amazing experience it has been" before introducing the cast and bidding them all welcome. As he exited the stage he received a wave of soft applauses from the audience and the curtains parted.

Cindy sighed a breath of relief. Finally; the sooner they began, the sooner she could get out of there!

The first hour of the show passed by and to Cindy's surprise, she actually loved it. The school's drama club had joined together with the glee club to form a most outstanding show, with excellent acting and flashy dance numbers. In fact, she was so into it that when the lights blinked on and off again – indicating intermission – she outburst a soft "_no!"_.

The people around the two teens started to move, some needing to visit the bathrooms and others intending to go by some snack at the bake sale that the theatre kids had organized. She was actually feeling like getting something to drink, but as she rose and started to shuffle through the rows, Peter stood and followed her silently, and soon they once again walked side by side in silence.

"I haven't eaten anything," Peter explained upon catching her glance at him and she nodded in reply, biting the inside of her cheek.

The two clubs had placed out a bunch of tables in a more open area right outside the entrance to the auditorium and it was already filled with people laughing an chatting. Parents were praising their children's performance, classmates commenting who was hottest, and a few critics – both from the school's paper and the real one – were scribbling down a few comments. She noticed Betty Brant and Jason Ionello over by the brownies, both chatting lightly with the two dates they had brought.

Cindy immediately went for a can of Pepsi while Peter bought himself a tuna sandwich, which he practically inhaled in about two seconds and when he thought no one was noticing, he quickly licked up the remaining salt from the tips of his fingers. He caught her eying him with a quirked brow and she could have sworn his cheeks turned slightly pink before he turned around and pretended examining some trophies in a glass cabinet. She rolled her eyes at him and felt her spine tingle slightly right before her pocket buzzed. It was probably just Sally checking in, but when she glanced down, her heart stopped.

"_I have some documents from Oscorp. I'll send them forth tomorrow. Just thought you should know."_

"No," Cindy whispered. "No, no, no… _Crap_!"

Her heart started beating so loud she thought it might escape from her chest and her head whipped in every direction as panic rose within her. She needed to get out of there, _now_.

"We should get back, it's starting–" Peter began, scratching the back of his neck, but stopped when he saw the panicked expression on her face. "Cindy what's–"

"I have to go."

She left him standing there, pushing her way through the crowd and not caring about the "_Hey!"_s or the "_Watch out!"_s she received. At one point she locked eyes with a girl called Cecilia that Sally was pretty good friends with, but only offered her a quick smile – something the girl looked quite upset about – before turning left and hurrying down an empty corridor. She continued like that until she was completely sure that no one was around and found herself outside the chem lab as she called up the number.

"_Yes?"_ Martin replied, obviously not surprised over her call.

"We had a deal!" Cindy snapped in a hushed voice. "You were supposed to help me!"

"_I have helped you. I still __**am**_ _helping you,"_ he retorted. "_Didn't you get my message yesterday?"_

"That doesn't mean you can go give him what he needs!"

The man sighed on the other end. "_Look, if I don't uphold my deal with __**him**__, then I'm equally screwed. I have no choice."_

Cindy was so mad she almost punched a fist through a wall, but she had to settle for digging her short nails into the palm of her hand so hard it they would leave deep marks.

"You can't do this," she tried, tears welling up in her eyes and a lump threatening to cut off her voice.

"_I have to. Besides, I've just gotten access to the original files, I still don't have the plans on all their fancy animals and shit. He still has a long way to go before he really can do anything."_

"So," she gulped, taking a deep breath to calm herself down, "why do you have to give them to him now, then?" There was a moment of silence, but Cindy couldn't wait. "Why!"

"_Like I told you, there's a meeting."_ His voice was calm and husky and Cindy immediately understood what he was getting at.

The Kingpin needed the files tomorrow because on saturday he would be giving them to the buyer. No files, no meeting.

She ground her teeth so hard they almost fell off. "_Fine_." The tone in her voice was so bitter it might have been mistaken for grape fruit. "But you have to tell me exactly what you're giving him and how you got them."

"_For fu– I got them the way I got them, I'm not telling you how exactly. You know I have my way around codes."_ That was true, and if he had managed to change his own high school grades and hack himself into Northwestern, why couldn't he get through Oscorp? "_And like I said, I just got the original files with the gene codes from testing it on mice that's a few months old. They keep the rest of them in different places with a bunch of firewalls so I still won't get them for a while."_

That actually made her relax for a bit. She still had some time to stop all this, but it wasn't much.

"And how long is that?"

"_I don't know, could be a few days, a few weeks. Like I said, they're sorted in different places."_ Martin sighed. He was beginning to sound rather tired fo her nagging. "_Now, if anything changes I'll text you but if not, just leave me alone, will you?"_

Cindy didn't have any chance to reply before she heard a fast beeping sound, indicating that he had ended the call.

"Jerk," she spat and threw her head back, pressing her hands against her temples. It took her five minutes of just standing and breathing before she had calmed down enough to return to the play. The hallways were empty now as everyone had returned to the seats, she guessed had missed at least fifteen minutes and she knew they were important.

Crap, everything was just crap at the moment.

She carefully snuck in through the doors, careful not to make a sound, before hurrying down the stairs toward the front rows. The people she shuffled past did not look happy and the actress playing Maria shot her a dark glare, not enjoying being interrupted.

Once she finally could flomp down in her seat next to Peter she was completely stressed out again, sighing and pulling out her notebook, although there was no chance in hell that she would be able to focus on anything for the rest of the night. The boy eyed her cautiously, noticing the puffy areas below her eyes but decided to say nothing – he knew she didn't want him to.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed it, can't wait to hear your thoughts! In the meantime, a few incorrect quotes!**

**Cindy:** You're blocking the view.

**Sally:** I am the view.

**I really have to come up with some new ones, I'm starting to run out of them.**

**Cindy:** Let's–

**Sally:** First of all, no.

**Sally:** Second of all, no.

**If you have any suggestions or own ideas you are more than welcome to let me know!**

**Sally:** Hey Cin, are you free on friday around 8 p.m.?

**Cindy:** Yeah?

**Sally:** What about you, Pete?

**Peter:** Yes, yes I am.

**Sally [calling over her shoulder]:** Great! I'm not, so you two go ahead without me. Enjoy your date!

**Peter:** Did– Did she just–?

**Cindy:** Yeah…

**I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to go vote on my poll! Until next time x**


	19. Chapter 18

**Hello! Hope everyone's enjoying their summer vacation, I sure am. The reason I've been gone for so long is a major writer's block combined with sheer exhaustion – I work with kids so God knows I need the rest. But it's been really nice not having to worry about this story for a few weeks, knowing fully well that I was going to return during the summer, and as I continued writing this again I got really excited. This chapter is basically a depressed Cindy, a poor Peter, and a loving father all wrapped up in one. Hope you enjoy!**

**loserbopeep: **I'm so glad you like it, sweetie, thanks for putting a big smile on my lips! :)

**Isabelnecessaryonabicycle: **Hope you enjoy this chapter!

**SnuffleTruff: **I'm glad you liked it!

**FigurativelyDying: **Wow it always shocks me that my writing can make people _feel_ things, thanks for sharing that!

**Dragon Of The Eclipsing Moon:** Thanks!

**Also, HUGE thanks to dallysbear, Hikari, JohanPhantom, BeniTohu, Fashazi, CMdkelley, dakota01372, badtzumaru, ilypopxtart333, siobhan.22, Justtpassingby, Mimi1010, WDGHK, xAnnieG, the real chosen 1, Vixter9339, Miltonius, loserbopeep, JediGemini, salports779, WalkerrHD, Mars Carter, isla88, and i am cloud for following and/or favoriting this story – it makes me so incredibly happy to see those little e-mails letting me know that another reader has joined us and this story's got over 400 followers now! Thank you all so so much, hope you enjoy this chapter :)**

* * *

"Ugh, my head hurts." Sally slouched in her seat and leaned her head backwards, gently rubbing her temples. Cindy hummed in agreement.

It was saturday afternoon and the two girls were currently seated on a city bus after a couple hours at one of Queens public libraries, working out some final details for tomorrow. Despite knowing that they had things under control – well, as "under control" as they could have – Cindy's stomach still hurt like hell and felt like a swarm of butterflies had made a wrong turn and ended up in her stomach. Even though she knew that Sally was nervous too, her friend worked really hard not to let it show.

"You know what would be perfect right now? French fries. French fries would be _great_."

Cindy only hummed in reply.

The girl shut her eyes hard for a moment. Her head was feeling like it was gonna explode from all the stress – she had never been as exhausted in her whole life as she'd been for these past few weeks. She couldn't focus properly in school, resulting in that her grades had started to drop, not much but still – if it hadn't been for her near perfect memory she would be toast. She barely slept at all and when she did, she usually woke up in the middle of the night, soaked in sweat from yet another night mare. Most of the time during the days she was just really grumpy and rather nasty, snapping at her parents for no reason and handing out dry comments with a scowl.

She knew she wasn't her best self at the moment and it really pained her to see the somber looks her little tantrums left behind. The feeling of not being enough pulsated trough her veins at every heartbeat, but the truth was that she could barely hold it together. She was on the edge of burning out.

"It feels like we've been working on this for ages," Sally grunted with her eyes now closed. "How long has it been?"

"A week," Cindy sighed, leaning her head backwards. "Just a really long week."

Her friend scoffed. "Feels like more. But hey," she glanced over at Cindy who was currently moping at the window and gave her a nudge with her shoulder, "after tomorrow it will all be over."

Cindy's eyes were most doubtful when she looked back at her with raised brows.

"And what if I screw up? What if we don't catch him?" she shrugged and for a moment she really didn't know where to look. "What if it all goes to hell and I just end up on square one again?"

Sure, she knew this attitude was hopeless at this point – she would give it her best shot and she knew there was nothing else she could do; but she also knew that _if_ it went wrong, she'd never forgive herself and be stuck inside a loop of constantly wondering what she could have done differently.

Suddenly, something hard squeezed her hand and looking up she found her friend watching her with soft eyes and a wry smile. "Then _we_ end up on square one again, and _we_ will cook up a new plan."

It was probably the most cliché thing her friend possibly could have said, but nonetheless, it caused her heart to tingle and her eyes to well up and for a moment they just looked at each other. Then Sally flicked her hair over her shoulder and raised a rather cocky brow.

"But on the other hand, we're not really used to messing things up so why start now?"

Cindy tried hard not to grin but just ended up with a crooked smile. In an attempt to hide it she scratched a spot on the side of her cheek facing Sally.

"Yeah, I guess you have a point there." They _were_ among the top students in their year and neither of them would be very surprised if they were offered a scholarship or two upon their graduation.

Even though her whole world had been flipped upside-down, even though she was snapping and scowling at the people she cared the most about, she counted herself the luckiest person in the world to have her best friend there by her side. Courageous and positive – save her usual dry comments, but that was sort of a package deal – at all times, cheering her on and leading the way like a torch in the dark. Cindy really wouldn't be where she was if it hadn't been for her.

"Hey, do you wanna sleep at my place tomorrow?" Sally spoke up, leaning her head so she looked upon her friend. A kid in front of them started to whine rather loudly and it was really disturbing. "After the meeting. We could talk everything through and you won't have to worry about what your gonna say to your parents."

Cindy pursed her lips while she pondered, her eyes lazily skimming over the ceiling above her. Someone had flicked a pink gum up there. Disgusting.

"I don't think I can," she replied with resistance, swallowing hard. She really wanted to, but she knew it was a bad idea. "I've spent so many nights at your place this week that mom and dad are starting to get a bit suspicious. I think I'll just tell them we're going to the movies and then try to get home as soon as possible. I'll call you first thing. I think it's for the best this time."

Yeah, her parents had commented as early as last evening when she was heading over to Sally's, a duffle bag casually flung over her shoulder – despite being really heavy, she carried it with such ease it might as well have been empty – and had asked with very concerned looks if there was something going on with her that they didn't know of.

_Yes_, she had wanted to reply, **_the_**_ Kingpin's trying to send dad to jail so I have to somehow kick his ass on sunday and not only hand him over to the police but also make sure I have evidence on him so that he gets sentenced in court_, but instead just gave them a standard teenage-glare, frowning her forehead at them and saying that she just wanted to hang out with her friend. She then proceeded to hurry off to spend nearly three hours in the industrial area where the meeting would take place, hiding cameras in various places before heading over to her friend to check them all out on her computer.

It would probably be good to lay a little low for a while.

"Right," Sally hummed and closed her eyes, exhaling heavily while letting her body sink deep into her seat. "I see your point."

Sal had been up most of the night as Kaiser had – finally – left the house to go to a suburban neighborhood about forty minutes east of where he lived – or 'lived'. It had taken her a really long time to figure out who was living there and had spent a few of hours tapping the keys of her laptop while Cindy had been dangling from the ceiling half asleep. The girl had been violently woken up by her friend throwing a pillow at her, which she had managed to dodge by ungraciously falling down to the floor. It was worth it, though, because when she looked over at her friend's screen she saw no one less than miss Lundh staring back at her from a driver's license.

Lundh – or _"Olivia Brown"_ as her license claimed – was working as an interior designer for a Brooklyn based company that was very small and she supposedly lived in the suburbs with her husband and three daughters. Thanks to the security cameras on the streets, Sally had quickly – okay, more like an hour and a half later – found out that Lundh was the only person living there, unless the rest of them were tied up in the basement. She had also found out that a few more people than Kaiser had paid a visit…

Despite that being it, both of the girls were over the moon about being able to connect the two characters to each other and Sally had been up even longer to write everything down in what she called her _Silk-journal_ – she had made sure to write down every little piece of information, discovery, and video footage just to keep track of everything and to stay on top of things. It was a brilliant idea that Cindy would never had thought of. But then again, she didn't really need to since she remembered just about everything.

Like the look on Peter's face after she told him she didn't want them to be friends any more.

_Geez_. The girl sighed and leaned back in her seat, letting her forehead press against the cool window. The city rushed past in a blurry mess of pastry shops, clothing stores, restaurants, pharmacies, and a bunch of people walking in and out, too caught up in their own lives to pay any attention to what was happening around them.

It felt awfully strange to see the outside world acting just like normal when her own world was crashing down.

Cindy glanced over at Sally, a spot in her stomach aching and urging her to open up about her feelings, but her friend had already drifted off, snoring softly with her neck tucked in a weird position.

She decided to let her friend sleep – God knew she needed the rest – and returned to staring absentmindedly out the window. The clouds were the shade of dusty asphalt and there was no doubt that it would start raining any second.

With a final sigh she crossed her arms in front of her and made herself comfortable in the corner, shutting her eyes hard as if it would stop her mind from spinning. It didn't. That's probably the height of exhaustion – when you're too tired to shut off.

The bus bobbed up and down as it went, swaying softly from side to side like a cradle. Almost all the seats of the bus were taken but it wasn't so crowded that people had to stand up in the aisle. The rows in the back of the bus were occupied by a group of elderly people who lightly chattered about their visit to the Saint Benedict Joseph Labre church, and in the row in front of the two girls sat a mother with her two children – twins – around four years old, both really upset that they didn't get to play games on her phone. Everything was just like normal, just like it should be, but as the bus came to a red light, everything changed very quickly.

Cindy's neck and spine started tingling uncontrollably while all the hairs on her body rose. She straightened herself in a fraction of a second, holding out a protective arm over her friend who stirred to life by the movement, and stared out the window with big eyes.

A black car was racing towards them down a narrow alleyway at at least fifty miles per hour, and in just a few seconds it would crash right into Cindy's window.

The girl only had seconds to think, but the only thing that went through her head was curses over the fact that the bus didn't have any seat belts. She had no idea if her spider-strength would protect her from an impact that big, it probably would, but all the other passengers sure as hell wouldn't. Sally would best case scenario break her neck and spine, and the mother and her two kinds in front of them would be smushed, breaking all sorts of bones and joints.

And there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Her lunges felt dry and empty and tingly all at once, like she was breathing helium instead of oxygen. Her mind felt soft and cloudy and her heart both raced and was frozen.

It would hit them in three seconds.

A millimeter's worth of web extended from the tips of her fingers and she instinctively wrapped her arm closer around Sally while her other hand was ready to cover the window with a cluster of web to prevent glass from raining in. Maybe she could manage to catch a few of the other passengers in soft web as well…

Two seconds. One.

Cindy readied herself for the impact, her eyes shut so hard she saw stars. But instead of glass shattering and a force that made her fall through the air the only thing she felt was a soft bump that swayed her softly.

Shocked, her eyes popped open and she stared through the – still very intact – window only to find a red and blue figure standing in front of her. Their back was facing her and they had the whole car in their arms. With a loud crash it was dropped back to the ground and the figure spun around, their black goggles staring right into Cindy's surprised gaze.

It was Spiderman.

It was Peter Parker.

He had saved her. He had saved both of them. He had stopped a racing car by sheer mussel force, saving multiple of other lives in the process. Lives _she_ couldn't have saved.

Despite the really dopey glasses being the darkest black she thought she saw his chocolatey eyes underneath them, boring into her soul with an equally shocked expression. He recognized her, she knew that, and after what felt like an eternity he turned around and swung away up toward the roof of a building. He had disappeared as suddenly as he had come.

For a short moment the whole bus went silent, then a deafening thunder of cheers and claps filled the air. They nearly couldn't hear the driver asking everyone if they were okay through the speaker system.

"Holy shit," Sally breathed beside her. "Holy fucking… That was Spiderman." After a few seconds of stunned silence she looked over at Cindy with furrowed brows. "You've _met_ him!"

"Shh!" Cindy hissed, quickly eying her surroundings to make sure no one had heard, but everyone were far too busy chatting with their neighbor about what just had happened, or calling someone they knew to explain vividly that they'd almost been in an accident, or crying silently, to notice anything that wasn't directly affecting them.

"But you've _met_ him," Sally's voice was quieter now and shifted her weight in her seat just as the bus started driving again. "Are you sure you can't tell me who he is?"

Cindy bit the inside of her cheek. She hated keeping secrets from her, and she hated the fact that when she'd finally let her in on her Silk-secret, Peter had gone and dropped this crap on her.

"I already told you, I _can't_ tell. I promised." She leaned her head back again, her heart still beating quickly from the almost-accident experience. "If I start telling people who he is, then he'll do the same with me." Even though Peter hadn't made such a statement she was fairly sure it was true.

Sally grinned. "So it's a _he_!"

Cindy winced as she realized she'd slipped.

"Come on, you know I won't tell." When Cindy's head rolled in her friend's direction she found her glaring at her with crossed arms and an accusing frown. Cindy threw her arms out her sides.

"You promised not to nag me on this," she reminded, using her big eyes to her advantage as she stared back with pursed lips. Sally challenged her with a stern stare but gave in after a short while, sighing in defeat.

"Fine."

"Thanks."

"But you have to promise, if you ever meet him again, thank him from me."

* * *

The expensive, scented candles her mom had lit on the dining table a few moments earlier caused Cindy to sneeze and she swore to God a little bit of web came out her nose.

"Shit," she muttered while waving her hands wildly in the air, trying to figure out how to deal with it.

"_Mom_! Cindy said a bad word!" A.J. yelled behind her back and ran off to the kitchen to tell on her to their parents.

"Snitchers get stitches," she barked over her shoulder and quickly wiped her nose with a fancy napkin. Their dinner guests – May and Peter Parker – would arrive in just a few minutes, something that caused a knot to appear in the pit of her stomach. "If you're so lucky…"

"You know the rules, Cin," her dad called from inside the kitchen and the teenager crossed her arms in front of her, rather pissed that she'd have to put a few dollars in the swear jar. Her mother, however, was too busy worrying about being a perfect host to care about curse words.

"Is the table ready?" she shouted, her voice sharp. Even though she was in a completely different room, Cindy knew that she had that crooked wrinkle between her brows.

"Almost, we just need the bread." Cindy scanned the wine red tablecloth dressing the rectangular table. Her mother had chosen a beautiful china that she'd bought in Korea that had little flowers of gold whirling around the edges, along with the silverware from her parents' wedding. A.J. had been supposed to help her with setting the table but had just ended up crumpling the yellow napkins into balls trying to make them into animals, so Cindy had ended up stuffing the balls into the tall glasses. They kind of looked like the roses her mother always used to buy.

"It looks great, hun!" Her father complimented as he walked over with a basket full of baguette, a big grin on his lips. He was wearing a neat, pale blue shirt that matched with A.J.'s – her baby brother looked like a tiny copy of their father.

"Oh my– The napkins, Cindy," her mother sighed as she appeared in the doorframe, eyeing the table setting with a stressed look. The daughter just nudged her head at her younger brother as her dad wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulder and kissed her temple with an _"It looks just fine, dear"_. "Now go change, they'll be here soon!"

Cindy bit at the inside of her cheek as she walked over to the staircase. The pressure in her chest tightened. For the whole afternoon she hadn't been able to shake the image of Peter Parker in his dopey costume out of her head. Him standing there in front of her, only seconds after saving her life, with his eyes staring through those black glasses at her.

It was a horrible coincidence, to say the least, and she really didn't know how she was supposed to act around him tonight. Should she thank him? That was definitely the right thing to do, she knew. It was the way her parents had raised her. Although, that would kind of mess up her plan not to speak with him…

Should she ignore him? Maybe even deny that it had been her? No, that felt even more wrong.

"Shit," she muttered for the second time that evening. The only thing she knew was that this dinner thing would go horribly. Truly horribly.

The rest of Cindy's family had dressed up a bit. Nothing too fancy, but enough to make Cindy feel out of place if she wore a pair of ripped jeans and a plain t-shirt. Pouting at her closet she finally picked a more casual looking navy shirt with long sleeves. It was simple, comfortable and without any ruffles or other decorations. She matched it with a pair of dark pants and a navy headband along with a pair of small, silver earrings she had gotten from her parents a few years back. Observing herself in the mirror she couldn't help but smile; she looked decent and welcoming, but definitely not overdressed.

Just then the doorbell rang and a stone dropped in Cindy's stomach, along with the corners of her mouth. The wood in the staircase creaked a little as she headed downstairs, her jaws clenched and eyes slightly too wide. The sound of chiming voices and polite laughs reached her ears and as she skipped down the last few steps she caught a glimpse of May Parker's wispy hair as she embraced Cindy's mother.

"Nari! Oh my… It's been so long!" May exclaimed with a big grin, pulling back to instead greet her father with a friendly hug. "How are you?"

The girl closed up to the group of people with a strained smile. They hadn't noticed her yet, but she didn't really mind. Instead her eyes searched for a particular teenage boy who didn't seem to be around. Maybe he had gotten sick?

"So good," Cindy's mother smiled and lead her friend away towards the kitchen, still not having noticed her daughter standing a few feet next to them – or maybe she was too preoccupied treating her guest with a glass fo fancy wine to bother.

Cindy rolled her eyes and relaxed a little. Maybe she had worried in vain, maybe Peter had done it easy for the both of them and stayed home with a 'light fever' or claiming that he had an important essay that was due monday.

Exhaling all the tenseness in her body she went to close the still open door, but just as her hand was about to touch the knob it was pulled away from her. She looked up with a surprised frown on her face, her mouth forming a small 'o' as she looked at the familiar face of Peter Parker. To be fair, he looked equally surprised to have found her only an inch into the doorway he was heading in through.

For about three seconds all they did was stare at each other, neither of them quite believing what was happening. A chilly breeze danced up Cindy's arms and she shivered slightly, taking a small step backwards and into the warmth of her home. Peter stayed put, however, and his eyes scanned her up and down before finally swallowing a lump in his throat and taking a step closer.

"A- are you okay? You aren't… Hurt?"

The boy's voice was low and silky like honey as he leaned a bit closer to her, crossing his arms in front of her with an expression that was more worried than annoyed. The movement of his arms caused his striped shirt to crease and she only just then realized that he had put some product in his hair to smooth it down. To be honest, it was a good look on him.

"Yeah, yeah," she brushed off after a moment of silence, shaking her head minutely and glancing over her shoulder just to make sure no one could have heard. Her eyes found his again and she felt herself completely lost at words. Now it was her turn to swallow hard. "I… Um… Thanks."

There it was. As if he had picked up a pencil she had dropped, or held up a door for her, or complimented her on her headband.

Peter relaxed somewhat, realizing that Cindy was deciding to keep up the cold act.

"Don't mention it," he muttered quickly before, burying his hands deep into his pockets and brushing past her and toward the sound of his aunt's bell-like laugh.

Cindy stood there at in the hallway for a moment, frozen to the core. Peter hadn't stayed at home, he had just been tying his shoes, or buying a parking ticket, or answering a phone call.

She took a deep breath – in through her nose, out through her mouth. With the best smile she could conjure up at the moment, she closed the door and joined the company in the dining room who had already taken their seats – except for Cindy's mother, who of course was hurrying back and forth to the kitchen.

Cindy's father had taken his wife's regular place at the end of the table with May on his right side and Cindy's mother's wine glass on his left. Next to May sat Peter, listening to a story her father was telling them with an interested spark in his eyes, and next to him, on the other end of the table, sat A.J. That left Cindy to sit opposite to Peter, with her brother and mother on either sides of her. Her classmate didn't look up as she took her seat. She looked down at her silky shirt and smoothened it a bit as May and Peter laughed at something her dad said.

"Hi Cindy."

Cindy's head popped up and found May's warm eyes across the table, the same fudgy color as Peter's. The woman was smiling at her, causing a few wrinkles to appear beneath her stylish glasses. May really was the sun impersonated.

"Hi," Cindy smiled back and the Italian woman reached across the table to squeeze her hand in greeting.

"How are you? Is everything fine with school?"

Suddenly, everyone's eyes were on her. Usually this wouldn't have been much of a problem, but with the lack of sleep, stress about the Kingpin, the day's event, and her and Peter's chilliness toward each other, her mind just couldn't stop spinning.

May wiped off a few crumbles of baguette from the corner of her mouth with one of the yellow napkins and continued conversation before she had managed to answer any of her questions. "Peter tells me you've started taking combat classes. How's that working out for you?"

She noticed the boy's cheek turn slightly pink as he looked down.

"They're great, I'm great." She bit herself in the tongue as she realized she'd mixed up the order, sounding a lot more cocky than she actually felt. "I mean, I'm good and school is fine, I guess." She drew back a few strands of hair that had fallen into her face while speaking. "And yeah I'm taking a material arts class, they teach self defense and stuff."

"It's such a relief that she's taking that class," her mother butted in as she entered the room with a hot lasagna in her hands that she carefully sat down on the middle of the table. "With everything that's going on in the city."

That earned her a hum of agreement from the other adults while Cindy and Peter's eyes met for a second, both equally stressed.

"Absolutely," May agreed, passing down a bowl of salad to her nephew. "You almost want to throw away the newspaper before you read them," she joked.

It was now Cindy's turn to take some salad and she put some on her younger brother's plate as well.

"No!" he grunted angrily, crossing his arms in front of him but she ignored it.

"I know," Cindy's mother sighed. "With all these so-called heroes running about and doing God knows what."

Hearing this, Cindy choked on her salad and coughed discretely into her hand. She was looking down at the table so she didn't have to meet anyone's gaze but her mother just continued speaking.

"Actually – and this is a bit of a secret – I am writing an article about this new enhanced individual who's been running around – Silk. Have you heard of her?" All color drained from Cindy's face.

"Oh yes, I think I saw some video of her on facebook," May chirped, tilting her head to the side as she glanced between the two parents. Cindy's eyes darted between them all, searching for any sign that they believed it was her. Also, was there a video of her? She hadn't seen anything like that. She had to text Sally to find out what was going around. "But isn't she – or he, for all that we know-"

"Yeah I think it's a 'he'," Cindy quickly butted in through a dry throat.

"-helping out young girls?"

Cindy knew it was almost impossible for her to faint, but a wave of nausea and dizziness still washed over her. Why this subject? Why now?

Her mother cleared her throat a little and washed down the food in her mouth with a sip of red wine. "My boss, Mr. Jameson, he wants me to write an elaborative article on the possible negative effects she-"

"_He_," Cindy butted in again.

"-could have on society. Sure," she raised her brows and made a little shrug, wine glass still in her hand, "there are a few women who claim this Silk person has helped them, but should we really allow just _anybody_ to roam around the city doing whatever they want?"

It was silent around the table for a moment as they pondered the question. Obviously this wasn't the first time an enhanced person appeared out of nowhere; the whole island of Manhattan and its nearby neighborhoods were crawling with Jessica Joneses, Matthew Murdocks, and Luke Cages these days. And, surely, for every Jessica Jones there was a Purple Man, and for every Luke Cage there was a Cottonmouth. Super strength wasn't equal to being super. Not anymore.

Eventually, her dad spoke up.

"Do do have a point, dear. There are more so-called "heroes" these days than you can keep count of. Do you know," he turned to May, who looked at him with interest, and Peter, who was wearing a tense smile, "that our main office in D.C. went down with the helicarrier Captain America took down last year." He nodded firmly as May _"no"_ed in disbelief. Cindy remembered the event clearly. Her father had been in D.C. that week and she had been worried sick until her mother had called her saying that everything was fine. He had gotten away with a broken ankle. "It's sheer luck that no one in our office was killed."

Cindy was still looking down at her plate and chewed effortlessly on a piece of salad, her heart racing in her chest. Her jaws hurt from clenching too hard. She had _so_ _not_ expected this to come up; her parents had never even mentioned Silk or asked her anything about it! Sure, it didn't feel all too good that her parents maybe thought of her as a bad guy, but maybe it was for the best.

They were all distracted by a sudden pea that rolled across the dinner table.

"I don't want them!" A.J. shouted while stuffing another pea up his nose and blowing it out onto the table. Cindy buried her face in her hands.

"_Albert Junior_," their mother scolded and apologized to their guests as she wrapped the peas up in a napkin and headed into the kitchen. Her dad leaned in over the table while looking at his son with a stern expression.

"If you don't want them you don't have to eat them, but what you just did is not okay," he spoke softly. A.J. pouted his lips a little and looked down at the table with shame. "Now apologize."

Her younger brother did so with a small voice, despite May insisting that it was fine and telling some anecdote about a very young Peter throwing food at the kitchen wall, something that caused his cheeks to redden and a small smile to appear on his lips. Unfortunately, her younger brother's little outburst didn't distract the adults for too long.

"Didn't a girl in your grade get in trouble?" May asked as Cindy's mother returned to the table. She looked first at Peter, but her eyes eventually landed on Cindy and decided to stay there. "Didn't she get help from the… Uh…" she glanced at Nari who mouthed the word, "Silk?"

Cindy swallowed hard and reminded herself to relax and appear natural. Her parents looked at her with slight surprise, they obviously hadn't heard anything about this matter.

"Yeah, that's right," she confirmed softly, nodding. "Lara Grant. She, um, was attacked by two men that tried to drag her away and Silk helped her."

"Really?" her mother breathed, her brows close to her hairline. "Lara Grant, who you used to do gymnastics with?" Cindy nodded, sucking on her lips. "Maybe I should ask her for an interview," she mumbled to herself as she straightened her skirt.

To Cindy's relief the Silk-topic was replaced with another round of talking about her material arts class and A.J.'s karate, as well as some of Peter's activities. She'd known he was keeping himself busy but she could never have imagined how much he was juggling outside of school, and then knowing he had his whole Spiderman-thing on top of everything.

As the evening continued Cindy relaxed more and more. Most of the night she just listened to her parents telling pre-Cindy-and-A.J. stories and May talking about her teenage summers in Italy. It was really nice, actually, more comforting than she ever would have thought. For a few moments she even forgot about the fact that she less than twenty-four hours from then would be up against the most dangerous man on the east coast.

"This was delicious, Nari," May praised and glanced her nephew with a smile.

"Yeah, it's the best lasagna I've ever had," he smiled and his chocolate eyes glimmered. Cindy couldn't help it – and she didn't realize it before it was too late – but she smiled softly at him. Her mother thanked humbly and hurried off into the kitchen again to get dessert.

"Hey," May laughed as she nudged him playfully in his ribs. The boy jerked to the side as he laughed, obviously very ticklish, and as they calmed down, his eyes landed on Cindy and the strangest thing happened. It was as if her eyes took a mental picture of him, sitting all dressed up with his hair neatly gelled up, a big grin on his lips that caused multiple dimples on his cheeks, and his eyes so warm and soft. Even though she looked away almost instantly she just couldn't seem to get the picture out of her head. Peter. Dressed up. In her house. White teeth. Warm eyes.

"I haven't asked you – how rude of me – but how's work? Are you still working for Oscorp?" May's elbow rested on the table as she casually cupped her chin and cheek in her hand, looking at the man beside her.

Cindy's attention turned up to one hundred hearing the company name – an occupational damage – and she looked up at her dad.

"Yes, that's correct. It's…" he scratched a spot below his chin as he thought, "Six years this summer."

"Impressive," May mused. "Peter's always loved going to their museum and labs. I've lost count of all the times he's dragged me there," she laughed, smiling warmly at Peter. Cindy's dad chuckled.

"Indeed, that how it's always been with Cindy too!" He looked at his daughter with warmth and love in his eyes, not quite coping with the fact that his little girl wasn't so little anymore. Cindy felt her cheeks burn and she copied May's move by placing her cheek in her hand to hide that she was blushing. "It's all good, we're currently working on getting a project patented right now and it's a lot of work, but I'm sure it will work out in the end."

Cindy couldn't help but wonder if he was referring to the gene manipulation they had gotten to see when their grade was there. The exhibition that had changed both her and Peter's life forever.

"You two were there not too long ago, right? On a school trip?" her dad continued, his eyes squinting a bit as if to reassure them he wasn't certain if he turned out to be wrong.

"Yeah," she breathed and smiled. From the corner of her eyes she noticed Peter mindlessly rubbing the spot on his hand where the spider had bitten him.

"Are you talking about your work?" Cindy's mother asked while exiting the kitchen, a couple of bowls of ice cream balancing in her hands. "How did it go with the infiltrators, have you managed to catch them?"

All air disappeared from Cindy's lungs as if it had been part of a magic trick. She stared up at her dad with slightly wide eyes and a slack jaw.

"What? What happened?" The worry in her voice was clear and she didn't bother to hide it. Her dad looked at her with a strained smile, quickly glancing at his wife like she had said something she really wasn't supposed to.

"Well, yes. We've been having a bit of trouble with someone trying to hack into some of Oscorp's files, but it's been taken care of now. There's nothing to worry about."

Cindy felt a cold panic crawling closer, numbing everything except the sound of her heart pounding in her ears.

"Oh," Peter spoke up. "But have they found who did it?"

"No, and I'm not sure we will. Whoever did it really knew what they were doing. But enough about that – A.J. are you up for ice cream?"

"Yes please!"

Cindy felt like she would fall out of her chair. The previous so delicious dinner was now pinching at her insides and she felt like she was gonna hurl. The chocolate flavored dessert in front of her did not appeal one bit.

This was the Kingpin's doing, she knew that without a doubt. Whether it was the Kingpin himself or Martin or someone else under his wings didn't matter, what mattered was that she couldn't afford screwing up. If anything went wrong she would never be able to forgive herself. Ever.

"Cindy?"

Her head popped up and she found her father looking at her with a slightly worried expression. Her mother was caught up in a conversation with May and Peter, and A.J. had been allowed to finish his ice cream in front of the TV.

"It's fine," she replied softly, her lips forming a wry smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Her father pondered for a moment but then shone up. For some reason he had a ballpoint pen in his pocket and he quickly scribbled something down on a napkin and then turned it over to write something on the other side too. Finally, he turned it around again and slid it over to Cindy. The girl eyed him strangely and then looked down at the yellow paper.

_"__What did the grape say when it was crushed?"_

Cindy's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked up at her dad with a questioning brow. He made a motion for her to turn it over and she did so, reading the following line:

_"__Nothing, it just let out a little wine"_

Her chest tightened like someone had tied a string around her body and she snorted loudly with a big grin, using her hand to cover her mouth and looking away from the others who had stopped their conversation to glance at the strange girl laughing so hard that her whole body bobbed up and down. When she finally looked up again – more calm now, even though her face was still red and hot – she found her father smiling warmly at her, proud to have cheered up his daughter. He didn't need to say anything, his eyes still said _"I love you"_.

* * *

**We're finishing off on a sweet note today, really showing what Cindy is fighting for. I'm such a sucker for sweet family stuff. Now, let's celebrate 400 followers with a bunch of incorrect quotes!**

**Cindy: **[playing frisbee with Peter]

**Cindy, out of breath:** Jeez, you're a lot heavier than I thought

**These crack me up so much it's embarrassing**

**Barista: **How would you like your coffee?

**Cindy:** As dark and bitter as my soul.

**Sally:** That means 99% milk

**Oh so true…**

**Peter:** I've taken a controversial new pill that accelerates my brain

**Cindy: **So you're smarter now?

**Peter:** I'm stupid faster

**I'm sorry that I've made Peter into this naive character but I love it**

**Cindy, pre-spider:** All I'm good at is breathing.

**Sally:** Cin, you're asthmatic.

**We're gonna get some ****_really_**** nice Cinter scenes in two chapters from now, just saying…**

**Peter:** Don't worry, I'm gonna help you fix your relationship troubles

**Cindy:** You _are_ my relationship troubles

**… ******and I'm also saying you're gonna love them so much…****

**Peter:** Darling you're like an angel with no wings

**Cindy:** So… like a person?

**… ****cause I can't even think about them without squirming**

**Peter:** What's this?

**Cindy:** … 2% milk?

**Peter:** But what's the other 98%?

**The last two quotes are from Parks & Rec, if you haven't seen that show yet then do it. NOW. **

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter of WDWG, next update won't take as long to publish, but I'm gonna guess at 2-3 weeks since I have a few summer plans with family and friends. I'm gonna remind you (for the last time!) to vote on the poll in my profile concerning which day of the week this story should be published on (!) cause by the next update I'll take it down. I'll also try to come up with a more regular publish schedule that I'll fall into after the summer holidays, both for your sake and for mine. Don't forget to leave your lovely thoughts behind, I'm always excited to hear what you think :)**


	20. Chapter 19

**Good evening everyone, long time no see and everything, but it has been ****_so_**** nice to get a little break this summer. I hope everyone are doing well and are well rested and ready for this strange fall that's about to come. So much has happened since last chapter, I mean Taylor Swift released a new album, I've rewatched Avatar (last airbender) like two times in two weeks, I've already been working for a week, and everything that's going on on the news. But now, finally it's time for this chapter that I've been waiting for – and dreading – to write for so long!**

**It was so messy to write this, and I wanted to get every character and feeling right. There's quite a bit of information (and soo many hints) but also a fight scene that was really exciting to write. ALSO, I've closed the poll on my page now and – as you might have noticed – this story will be published on saturdays from now on (or a few minutes after midnight…). It's good for me to have a time goal to work towards, and it's neat for you to know which day it will be published on, and for now I'm gonna keep the 2-3 weeks rule. When I start to finish a chapter, I ****_will_**** write which week it will be posted under the update tab on my profile, so make sure to check that out!**

**TheVulcanNara: **Wow thank you so much, it makes me so happy that you like this story! And that Silk is your favorite character :D When it comes to the Defenders group I think everyone exposed time wise (except for Iron fist, my mistake) and all apologies but I didn't know that Kingpin stared in Daredevil until a few weeks ago ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ I'll keep it MCU canon so no X-men, but a few of the ones you mentioned will pop up ;) As for the Spiderman villains, Vulture will appear in the next 'book' as part of the Homecoming arc, but he won't be Cindy's main concern (hint-hint). I'd love to include Doc Ock, Lizard, or any of the other ones but don't have any plans on that at the moment.

**Music4Ever19:** Omg your review made me SO happy! Welcome to the story and hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Tofu101:** You're most welcome, and it makes me really happy that you like it. Unfortunately for Cindy, you're gut may be correct…

**A HUGE thank you to MREZ, AddictionProblems21, SnuffleTruff, and Hearteyesmf for leaving wonderful reviews as well, it's too late for me to answer them all but just know that I read and re-read them so so often and they warm my heart and really urges me to continue writing. A big hug to all of you! Also many thanks to Makayla1223, Timetrooper, Lara Barnes, Joeman11, Half Winged Angel in Despair, PrincessJV, elljayde, kitsunegir100, Music4ever19, 13, elsiereads, that1laptop, Idiotic Brainspark, Hufflepuff Hex, kripky, MarvelWorksWonders, GamingSoldier86, and ALotOfNeardyThings for following, favoriting, or both. You guys are awesome!**

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A couple of swallows flew past Cindy where she sat on the rooftop and chirped at her with annoyance. She could see most of Queens from her seat, and any other day she would have been amazed with the view. But not today.

Her eyelids felt like lead and butterflies were roaming freely inside her stomach. She had barely slept at all last night, twisted thoughts of making mistakes had kept her awake until five in the morning. Every possible mistake, every possible outcome had passed through her head. It had been horrible.

"_Focus_, Cin. You can do this. You're awesome," the girl muttered to herself in encouragement but her hands still wouldn't stop shaking.

A shiver fled down her spine and she knew it was time.

Peeking over the edge of the building she found a silvery car slide down the narrow street between large, industrial buildings and as it drove past her she followed it along the rooftops. She made sure to keep low, not that it was likely for someone to notice her, but she had gone over this a million times in her head and knew it was for the best.

She didn't recognize the license plate, but as it came to a halt outside a large barn-like entrance or a building that once upon a time had been a service station for cars, she recognized a familiar figure step out from the driver's seat. It was the big guy from the meeting Peter had interrupted a few weeks ago. The Russian guy, Alexei. He leaned back against the car and lit a cigarette, shoving his hands deep into his pockets.

Cindy narrowed her eyes at him and sank down behind the railing to remain hidden from sight. She remembered a thought that had popped into her mind last night when she couldn't sleep, and quickly pulled out her phone to switch it to silent mode. An encouraging text from Sally beamed at her, telling her that she could do this and that she had to call her immediately afterwards.

A few minutes later another car pulled up, a dark grey minivan raced in – that kind stressed mothers drive around their kids in – and parked next to Alexei's car. Kitty stepped out of it, black heels clicking angrily against the asphalt. The two of them nodded at each other, they probably said something too but they were too far away for Cindy to hear. However, Alexei quickly opened up the left side of his coat to reveal not one but _two_ guns.

As the big guy pulled the doors open, Cindy raced across the rooftop, jumped onto another one, and swiftly swung to the back of the building where she knew there was a window she could fit through. She had made sure it was open when she was there one day ago.

The withering stone that covered the house crumbled like sand under her strong fingers. It must have been built in the first half of the last century, she thought as she crawled downwards. Her short hair fell around her head like a dark gloria as she peeped through the broken window and found that a few men in dark suits were already waiting inside, heavily armed and all wearing dark clothes. Right in the middle of them stood Kaiser, and he was wearing a pair of big sunglasses along with a smirk.

The heavy doors opening caught everyone's attention and it allowed Cindy to sneak in and hide behind a beam in the ceiling. There were multiple of them in the airy building with twenty feet pillars supporting them. She glanced to her left and found that the camera she'd placed in the corner still was there, same thing with the one she'd hidden in an abandoned car wheel on the ground.

"You're still around?" Kaiser spoke up with a dry voice. Clearly he wasn't in the mood. "I thought he might replace you after last time's fiasco," he scoffed.

Kitty walked up to him with a smirk on her coral painted lips. Kaiser tried to look unimpressed, Cindy figured that much, but the way he shifted his weight and stiffened up revealed that he probably dreamed to walk around with her on his arm.

"I am irreplaceable," she stated with a sweet voice, her eyes as serious as death. "Don't you know that?"

The man swallowed and tried his best to appear unbothered as she turned on her heel and walked back to her Russian friend who smiled cruelly. Cindy frowned. Why was she irreplaceable? Was she his daughter or something? She was hardly a fighter, not in those heels.

To get a better view of Kaiser's limited army, she turned so that she was pressing her back against the beam and peeking over her other shoulder. She did a quick headcount that landed on six guards, plus the man himself, Kitty, and Alexei. The men were all armed with big guns. Guns with big bullets. Bullets that she never had had to dodge before.

She gulped, feeling her heart beginning to race. In order to succeed, she would just have to trust her Silk-sense; it might be a bitch on regular days, making her jump at every little cough and thud, but in these situations they were divine.

Kaiser shifted his weight again and something on his chest sparkled in the late sunlight that shone through one of the windows. Cindy squinted her eyes and leaned forward a little frowning as she saw what it was. Attached to the jacket, right over his heart, was a small, silvery badge. It had a really strange figure on it that Cindy had no memory of ever seeing before; a smudged, silver skull with octopus arms growing out of it.

"So," Kaiser began. He removed his sunglasses and crossed his arms in front of him in a rather challenging manner. "Which one of you are handing over the plans?"

Cindy's heart pounded so hard. He must mean the plans that Martin stole from Oscorp.

Kitty smirked and took a step forwards. She tilted her head ever so slightly at the big doors and gave a sugar sweet smile. "_He_ is."

Not even a second later the thundering sound of doors being pulled apart echoed inside the building and everyone's heads turned to find the headlights of a car staring them down. A classic, black Rolls Royce with toned windows rolled in slowly. It had a malicious look about it. It was like the devil himself had entered.

Kaiser looked like he might shit himself.

Cindy frowned. That must be him. That must be the Kingpin.

The car stopped in the middle of the room, in the middle of the two groups of people. A man stepped out from the front seat. He was dressed in a smart suit and a pair of big, dark glasses rested on his nose. He also had one of those hearing thingies that worked as a tiny walkie-talkie. Apart from the fact that he had left the top buttons on his white shirt unbuttoned, revealing dark, curly hair on his chest, and the big, golden ring in his ear, he looked like an FBI agent.

"Oh…" Cindy breathed inaudibly and she relaxed a little. To be completely honest, she had been expecting someone a little more… scary looking.

But just as her shoulders began to drop, the man walked over to the back seat and as he opened the door closest to Alexei and Kitty, a guy that almost looked identical to him walked out from the other side and she realized her mistake. Neither of them were the Kingpin. They were his bodyguards.

A black, leather shoe stepped onto the cement floor and the clear tap echoed between the walls and caused a shiver to stiffen up Cindy's spine. It was as if the sound had hit her with a spell. It was dead silent in the room. You could have heard a needle drop.

The leather shoe was quickly followed by another one and revealed a pair of fancy, coal black pants. A hand was placed on the top of the door, a big silver ring resting on the index finger. Cindy squinted but she couldn't make out what was scribbled on it, some form of signature she guessed. The man who was holding the door took a step to the side and from the shadowed seat emerged the Kingpin.

When Cindy had imagined him in her head she had seen an overweight man with an evil grin and thick brows over dark, pig-like eyes. He had haunted her mind for weeks, his hoarse and slimy voice reminding her what he was going to do. In her imagination, he had been the male version of Cruella De Vil. Selfish, evil, and a complete maniac. But the man standing in front of her resembled nothing of what she had imagined.

He was tall, slightly taller than the man who held up the door for him, and he carried himself with pride and strength. Despite being in his late fifties he looked sharp and alert and his broad shoulders revealed a muscular body. Perhaps he had been competing in some sport in his younger years.

Instead of dark, mean little eyes they were icy blue, snake eyes, and instead of a slimy smirk his face could have been carved out of stone. He was not here to mess around, and he was not accepting any funny business. The weird thing was, he didn't look mean at all. He just looked like one of the thousands of businessmen that walked around New York city every single day. He was focused and determined, he wouldn't let anything or anyone keep him from getting what he wanted. If an obstacle appeared he would simply get rid of. He was solid. Untouchable.

Cindy felt her legs begin to tingle, like they do when you're standing close to an edge. She turned around so that she wasn't looking down at the people anymore, but instead letting herself really lean back against the beam and take a few deep breaths. She really hadn't expected this. Just seeing the determination in his eyes she understood that this would be a lot more difficult than she had imagined.

"Good evening," she heard a voice say that could only belong to the Kingpin. Just like his face, it was strong and cold. "You must be Mr. Kaiser."

"Y-yes, I am," the man replied a bit unsurely. With her heart in her throat, Cindy peeked over her shoulder again to find that Kingpin had walked up to stand right in front of Kaiser, who was about a head shorter than him, and stared down his nose at him. His hands were casually hidden in the pockets of his pants.

Without saying a word, the Kingpin extended his right hand, his eyes not moving from Kaiser's. "It is a pleasure making business with you." The dry tone in his voice indicated that this was all just a gesture of politeness, "I apologize for the delay that was caused. Although, I was informed that _you_ were the man at fault." Kaiser's eyes widened slightly. "But I am willing to let that go."

"I do apologize, sir." Kaiser straightened himself and looked down at he hand in front of him. He quickly took it and they both squeezed their hands in greeting. As the older man let go, the younger one's hand fell down to his side. "I trust you have the plans?"

Kingpin snapped his fingers in the air and then let the same fingers pinch around his chin. One of the bodyguards went up to the car and brought out a black case with silver details from the back seat. He held it firmly in his hands, as if it might break if he dropped it, and came to stand by his boss' side.

"These are the original plans from Oscorp's gene manipulation," Kingpin clarified. Despite keeping a straight face, the corner of his lip twitched into an almost unnoticeable satisfied smirk. "I trust they will improve your trials rather noticeably," he scoffed. "Now what did you call it?"

His hand returned to his pocket as an amused gleam sparked in his eyes.

Kaiser swallowed and straightened himself a little, trying to regain his composure and – which was impossible – intimidate the man in front of him.

"ECSS," he replied through gritted teeth. "The Enhanced Chameleon Soldier Serum."

Kingpin's lip twitched again as the two guards chuckled. Even Kitty, who was visibly busy examining her nails, giggled poisonously.

It _was_ a rather stupid name, but Cindy didn't really feel like laughing at the moment. In that black case were the documents that would send her father to jail, that would tear her family apart forever. Her and Sally's plan had only been to come here to witness and film it to gather evidence against him, but maybe – if she was really quick and careful – she could take it from them?

Her heart began to race at the very thought. Her father had mentioned last night that they had had trouble with someone trying to steal information from them, so the company was probably securing themselves so that it wouldn't happen again. It wouldn't just buy her and Sally a few days, it would give them _weeks_ to gather more evidence and finally arrest the Kingpin. She could stalk him, track him down and figure out his real identity. She could gather information about his other business with the drugs and weapons so that it was impossible for him not to get sentenced in court.

The case was just across the room, her web would reach it she was sure of it.

"I look forward to see how it unfolds," Kingpin spoke and he actually sounded genuine. Something clicked in in Cindy's mind and she recalled something. _"Gene manipulation – it will change the weapon industry for good. Developing the formulas to fit humans he can make them stronger, faster, able to change their skin"_. It was when she had first found the Kingpin's men several weeks ago, when the met with Lundh. When she realized her dad was in trouble.

Her eyes widened. Gene manipulation. DNA codes. Mixing qualities such as strength, endurance, and God knows what to make ordinary people into enhanced ones. Just like her. And just like Peter. Only these guys wouldn't use their abilities for good. They would use them for espionage, stealth, terrorism, and God knows what!

Kaiser nodded and took a step forwards, reaching his hand out towards the black case, but the bodyguard took a step back. Kaiser gave him a accusing look but the large man was unbothered, so instead he turned his eyes to Kingpin to get an explanation.

"I believe that a payment would be in order," he stated simply. The smirk had vanished and his eyes were once again cold as ice.

"I have been given strict orders not to hand out _anything_ until I have ensured that we have gotten the correct information." He was beginning to loose his cool and Cindy noticed a few strands of hair that had fallen into his face. A vein on his forehead popped. The two men stared at each other for a long moment, neither of them breaking the stare. Despite being twelve people inside the room – plus Cindy – it was dead silent. Through the walls they could hear a boat tooting a couple of miles away where the harbor would be.

Kingpin's right hand left its pocket to snap once again, and as if on cue, everyone on his side of the building started moving. The guard carrying the case turned on the spot and walked over to the car while the other one walked up to his boss to cover him if needed. Alexei and Kitty walked up to the car as well, the latter one leaning agains the trunk with a bored expression on her face.

As Kingpin turned around to the car door being held open for him, Kaiser all but lost his mind.

"What's this! You are breaking the deal on us?"

Cindy's heart raced and a frown crowned her brows. What the heck was happening?

As he reached the car, Kingpin turned around and with an unbothered smile he stuck out his chin a little. "My deals are being made my way, or no way. You are in no position to bargain at all." His eyes narrowed as his smile grew wider, more satisfied, before he continued with a lighter voice. "Don't you know who I am?"

Was the Kingpin going to walk away from the deal just like that? Did this mean she didn't have to worry about her father being sued anymore? Was it all over?

As a light and tingly feeling spread through Cindy's stomach, Kaiser gritted his teeth and looked like he was going to throw a fit.

"You are a vain man if you think that you stand a chance against our organization! Just wait until I tell my superiors – they will make sure your worst nightmares come true."

Now Cindy frowned once again. For a man as powerful as him, what could his _"worst nightmares"_ be? It wasn't like he could go to the cops and turn him in without getting in trouble himself.

A flash of lightning shone in Kingpin's eyes and holding a hand up to prevent his guard from following, he strode up to the man in front of him. Not breaking eye contact. Not even blinking. The armed men behind Kaiser held the guns closer to them, some even raised them to remind him not to try anything funny.

"They wouldn't dare." He spoke deeply, slowly, his voice reminding her of thunder and stormy oceans. But there was a spark of something else in his voice as well. A poisonous fire that threatened to burn down Kaiser's whole world to ashes. Kaiser was too mad to back down, but this didn't intimidate the man in front of him. "And you're bluffing. You are too short of time to commit mistakes like this. You need the documents and you need them now. You're never gonna get them from anyone else, I'm your only chance. So, we are going to try this again, now shall we? Hand over the payment, and _then_ you will get what your cowardly superiors were too scared to come and get themselves."

Kaiser stared at him with wide eyes, blinking. His confidence had faltered and he looked down at the ground for a moment before finally nodding. A wave of nausea washed over Cindy and her stomach sank. She felt sick and the lack of sleep combined with her current stress level made her slip slightly on the beam, but she managed to catch herself almost instantly. Pressing her back against the beam she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. The plan had never been to intervene, but she had to do _something_. She couldn't just let them have the documents – everything they stole, everyone they hurt, it would all be Cindy's fault for letting him get away with them.

She heard the footsteps of someone walking up to the two men and then a thud bounced between the walls. Peeking over her shoulder she found that one of Kaiser's men had come to hand over a grey suitcase that was roughly larger than the one Kingpin's guard was carrying. The other guard walked over, took it up, and opened in his arms before nodding to his boss, who looked most pleased. He turned around and began to walk to his car, giving a small nod to the guard carrying the black case who walked up to a defeated Kaiser.

Both parties were getting ready to leave, but Cindy wasn't ready at all. Her whole body twitched and sparked like she was on fire. Her senses were going crazy. It almost felt like when you get water in your ear and everything just becomes wobbly and all you can hear is this fizzing sound, like an old TV that won't work. She just couldn't let them get away!

Her breathing had become shallow and she didn't get quite enough oxygen, her head felt light and empty. Reason was beyond her, her emotions decided for her and before she knew it, she hung upside down from the wooden beam, a string of web connecting her fingers with the dark case in Kaiser's arms. And then she was falling.

Hair was in her eyes and the air whipped around her as she tumbled to the ground. She tried to shoot webs at the ceiling but something was off, her powers wouldn't obey her.

She landed hard on the concrete ground, the back of her head screaming with pain. For a good moment her vision was completely gone, no matter how wide she opened her eyes. Finally, a few spots of light appeared and she managed to stand herself up against one of the walls.

The building that just a few moments earlier had been peacefully quiet was now chaotic. People were running, cars were roaring to life, and Kaiser's men were all firing their guns at her. The intense sound was awful to her sensitive ears and she managed to dodge the bullets by jumping, moving, and spinning around.

Landing once again on a beam, her blood shot eyes darted to the black Rolls Royce where she found the Kingpin throwing the door open, his guards blocking him from Kaiser's men and firing their pistols at her as well. However, before he slid in, the man turned around and his icy, blue eyes bored into hers. It was one of those moments where time freeze. Where it feels like he could see right through her. It could have lasted forever, but she blinked and he had turned around, screaming over the car at Kitty.

"_Felicia_!" It was a hard and commanding tone in his voice and then he had vanished into the car, his two guards following his example. The car roared to life and sped out the big doors. They weren't completely open yet but the driver didn't care, accelerating and smashing through them before disappearing.

_Shit_! Cindy swore to herself before turning her eyes to Kaiser who was disappearing into a dark car along with the suitcase and a few of his men. By now there were only two guys shooting at her. In an attempt to save the documents she shot out a string of web and tried to swing closer, but it was impossible to do so and dodge the bullets at the same time. Instead, she ended up on the wall behind a pillar that she thought would give her a somewhat decent shelter, but bullets were still ricocheting off the walls and her Silk sense forced her body to move every second not to get hit.

Looking up she met eyes with Kitty, who was standing almost on the other side of the large room, staring Cindy down with mean eyes. Alexei was gone, he must have left in the tumult. _Felicia_. So that was her name.

The woman dropped her grey coat to the ground, revealing a black, long sleeve and a pair of dark leggings along with her black heels. The tight clothes revealed a toned body underneath them and Cindy once again swore to herself. Who the hell _was_ she?

As a bullet almost hit her she realized she had to move. She swung up to the ceiling, seeing the car bolt toward the broken doorway and her eyes narrowed. She would attach a string of web to the ceiling and swing across the room, land on the roof of the car, and follow them out of there. She was strong enough to break the windows and the case was small enough to fit through it.

She took a deep breath and leaped into the air, aiming her hand toward the roof, but just like earlier, nothing happened. She immediately fell to the dusty floor and scraped her chin along with her palms. Something was wrong. Something was _very_ wrong. She felt dizzy again, but she doubted this was from the lack of sleep. The bullets continued to shoot at her but her body didn't seem to know what to do. It wanted her to jump at every direction at the same time.

She spun around to face the two darkly dressed men to get a better idea of what was happening, but as she turned, a sharp pain exploded in her right arm, a few inches south of her shoulder, and she fell down to the ground with a scream.

The gunfire stopped and she heard the men run away from her, heading through the doorway. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she reluctantly let go of her upper arm with a sob. Staring down at her palm she found it painted dark red. Never had she seen so much blood come from a wound. She grunted in pain as a mouthful of vomit appeared in her mouth.

"So, this is the great _Silk_? Protector of the women of New York." Kitty's – _Felicia's_ – bell-like voice echoed in the empty building along with the clicking sound of her heels. "I didn't know who you were, last time you got in our way, but I've done my research. Not that there is much to find about you."

Cindy gritted her teeth to stop the tears from rolling down the wet trails on her face and she stood herself up on wobbly legs, her left arm gripping tightly around her throbbing arm. Felicia was only thirty feet away from her and she was still walking, sashaying with gracious movements, almost cat-like. Cindy took a step backwards but it hurt like hell and she winced.

"Don- Don't come any closer!" she yelled at her, raising her good arm at the woman in front of her, but she just laughed and continued forwards. Cindy focused the best she could, she really tried to ignore the screaming pain. She aimed and shot, but she missed Felicia's legs with inches.

"There's no need to scream," Felicia purred. "You're all alone, there's no one here that can help you. You're mine now." There was an iciness in her voice that made Cindy shiver.

Staring down at her wound – she still didn't know how bad it was, her dark shirt made it hard to tell – she webbed a tight patch around it to keep it from bleeding out and she staggered backwards. Her head pounded and it felt like her mind was screaming at itself. Maybe she was going insane?

Cindy didn't let her eyes sway from the woman, but she searched in the corners of her eyes for a way out of there. If she only could get around her she would probably be able to bolt out the broken door that the two cars had disappeared through. Or she could climb up to the window she had come in through.

"Just look what you have gotten yourself into," Felicia continued, observing her sharp nails with an unamused expression before looking over at Cindy. "There's a reason people don't mess with us. But I guess a _kid_ wouldn't understand." Cindy's eyes narrowed at her as she once again took a step backwards. "Unfortunately for you," the corner of her mouth curled into a vicious smile, "I have no problem hurting a kid."

"Please," Cindy whimpered, thinking that playing the 'damsel in distress' might work in her advantage. Maybe she'd buy it. "I won't tell anyone, I promise," she lied but Felicia saw right trough her and laughed.

"You really think I'm dumb enough to fall for that?" She cocked a brow. "But I assure you, when _I'm_ done with you, you won't tell anyone," she took a step closer, "anything," her heels made a clicking sound as they hit the ground, "ever again."

There was only a six feet space between them now and Cindy had no idea what to do. Her head felt like it was gonna explode any second now, her reflexes screaming at her but to jump, dodge, attack, and run at the same time. She knew she couldn't fight like this. Without her Silk sense she was just old, ordinary Cindy with a handful of defense classes. She didn't stand a chance. The only thing she could count on was her mind and her enhanced strength.

Normally, her senses would have seen Felicia's move coming and urge her to the left, but she realized too late that her leg was aiming for her and managed last second to turn her body so that the blow hit her abdomen instead of her wounded arm. But she was still standing. When it came to sheer strength, Cindy had the advantage out of the two of them.

However, before she could deal out any punches, Felicia had dug her nails into Cindy's neck, right above her shoulder, which forced her body to twist awkwardly in an attempt to wiggle free. Gritting her teeth, Cindy quickly punched her fist at Felicia's face but missed with nearly an inch. She tried to kick her but where the woman's body should have been there was just air, causing Cindy to just continue forwards and ending up falling to the ground.

_Damn it!_ she cursed as she quickly scrambled back up and backed away. Felicia was now a couple feet away from her and she was chuckling. She came at Cindy once again but the girl dodged her by jumping up at one of the pillars, sitting there like she had been glued on. Felicia narrowed her eyes at her and before she knew it, she was falling. She landed on her knees and instantly knew she had scraped them.

Her body quivered as she tried to stand back up again and the skilled woman took advantage of this. Gripping hold of her shoulder and pushing her stomach she threw Cindy into the pillar she had just been on.

"What _are_ you?" Cindy hissed as she looked up from the ground, her hand pressing against her throbbing wound. She had nearly landed on it. Felicia didn't reply, however, but instead leaped forwards to deal out a handful of punches at Cindy's face, all of which she managed to block with her palms – a move she had picked up in her defense class. Finding an opening in the woman's movements, she jumped forwards and pushed so hard that she flew several feet backwards. To her dismay, Felicia managed to land in a soft roll and land on her hands and knees, her teeth gritted and her eyes gleaming with fury.

Focusing real hard, Cindy aimed her hand at her and shot out a cluster of web that was supposed to glue her hands to the floor, but instead it ended up on one of the pillars behind her.

"What's wrong with me?" Cindy mumbled to herself, looking down at her shaking hands. Why did she keep missing?

Felicia straightened herself and bolted toward her. Cindy tried to parry her kicks and punches, but it was all in vain – Felicia was too fast for her to dodge without her Silk sense and she ended up receiving sharp knuckles against her cheekbone, an elbow to the side of her neck, and a kick to her legs that had her falling to the ground.

She laid there, her vision was blurry and all she wanted was to cry. She rolled over to her side in an attempt to get up, but Felicia stood ready at her side to deal out a strong kick right into her stomach. It hit her so hard the air vanished from her lungs and she was left gasping hoarsely, but it was as if someone had tied an invisible string around her throat.

As the second kick hit her, stars were beginning to appear in her visual field and as the third one came she felt something crack inside her ribcage.

"Ah!" she panted and instinctively dragged herself a few inches away. "Stop it! _Please_!"

The sobs made her voice creaky and dull and phlegm was running out her nose. The tears in her eyes made everything look like an abstract painting. She curled herself tightly, shielding her front and using her good arm to protect her head. She waited, but nothing more came.

Carefully, she opened her eyes to find Felicia's face inches away from her, a cruel and very satisfied grin on her lips. Pure, raging anger exploded in Cindy's chest. She clenched her jaws hard and before she knew it, her right hand had shot out and blood was splashed on her face as the wound on her arm went numb with pain. Felicia's nose was broken.

"You little bitch!" She growled and gripped on to Cindy's neckline, dragging her away. She squirmed, but the woman's grip was like iron and her body screamed at her to stop moving. She couldn't feel her right arm anymore, not properly. It throbbed as if someone had dug a knife into it, but she couldn't move it. For a few seconds, Cindy allowed herself to close her eyes and relax her muscles, welcoming the darkness as an old friend.

She was so tired, and everything hurt. She didn't have it in herself to fight anymore.

A sharp pain at the back of her head forced a groan out of her and she reluctantly opened her eyes int narrow cracks. Felicia's fierce eyes bored into her. She held her by her collar against the concrete wall.

"Now let's see who you really are," Felicia grunted and ripped down the red mask from her nose and there she was. Unmasked. Exposed. "Silk, Silk, the _fantastic_ Silk. Just a little teenage brat."

Felicia raised her right hand and tied it into a fist. Cindy realized she was about to punch and softly rolled her head to the side, closing her eyes. She heard the woman hiss as her knuckles hit the wall. She adjusted her grip, letting go of Cindy's shirt and instead latching her skinny fingers around her throat. She raised her right arm again and this time there was nothing Cindy could do to prevent the blow. She felt warm blood dripping down her lips and chin and she knew that it hadn't been a strategic move. It was payback.

She could see Felicia's lips moving, but the pitched tone playing inside her ears blocked out what she was saying. The woman's grip around her neck tightened, her sharp nails digging into her skin. She tried to lift her left arm to claw at it, but it fell back down almost instantly.

The world became fuzzy, every sound, every smell became distant and her vision was going black again. She closed her eyes, allowing herself to give in. She thought she heard a voice, but it was far too low.

Something brushed against her cheek and a hot breath warmed her ear.

"You're dead," Felicia cooed into her ear, her voice cold and poisonous.

Cindy cracked her eyes open a little and found that the woman had pulled back from her slightly, raising a three inch long dagger in her hand.

Cindy's heart hammered against her chest like it wanted to come out from there and the ice cold feeling of adrenaline washed throughout her body. Her brains and her strength, that was all she had to save herself.

A tire that once had belonged to a large truck caught her eye and she stared at it. It was only a few feet away, but it was large enough to knock out a grown woman. It wasn't even an idea, it was her only chance for survival and as Felicia's hand came toward it, she automatically grabbed her wrist and shoulder, slamming her into the wall as they switched positions.

The woman groaned and the dagger slipped from her hand, falling down to the ground with a melodic clink. Before she had any opportunity to regain herself, Cindy had grabbed onto the edge of the large tire and used whatever strength she had left in her to swing it around herself like a gigantic sledgehammer. It slammed straight into Felicia and as it fell to the floor, the woman followed and landed on top of it, unconscious.

As a yelp of exhaustion escaped from her lips, Cindy staggered backwards until she hit a pillar. Her knees gave in and she slid down to the floor. It was okay. She was okay. Felicia would soon wake up, but it would be too late for her then.

With a sceptic glance up at the broken window, she abandoned the idea of climbing up the wall and instead began to crawl slowly towards the broken doors. She clutched her right arm tight to her chest and her left arm trembled heavily as she put weight on it. Blood was still dripping from her face, leaving a trail on the ground, and her chest throbbed. She didn't think her ribs were broken, but one or two had at least been cracked. Her back ached from being thrown into the pillar, tears were still streaming down her face, and she still felt dizzy. At least her mind had stopped screaming at her now.

She had to get her wounds checked and she had to stop the bleeding coming from her arm, and she knew she couldn't do it alone. Most likely she would pass out first thing as she allowed herself to relax, meaning she would loose a big amount of blood.

Sally. She needed to get to Sally.

The girl eventually reached the front doors where she managed to stand up. Her legs were shaking and threatened to give in, but she was determined to make it. Leaning her shoulder agains the door, she pulled out her phone and winced as she realized the screen had cracked big time, but reminded herself to see the bigger picture. She clicked the button but nothing happened. The screen remained black.

"Damn it!" she cried and clenched it in her fist, letting her forehead rest against it. She had no way of contacting her, she had to get herself to Sally's apartment, all the way over at Manhattan, and without being seen.

She clenched her teeth and with a determined _huff_, Cindy took a step away from the wall. Instantly her legs folded beneath her and she fell, landing on her bad arm. A high pitched scream made its way up her throat. Her head was all foggy as she wiped her wet cheeks with the end of her sleeve and she realized that she had a snowball's chance in hell of getting all the way over there by herself. She couldn't go home either. First of all, it would kill her mother, and second of all it was too far south of where she was. It was almost as far as Sally's place. Third of all, she knew she couldn't look her father in the eyes after just letting the people who were trying to put him behind bars escape.

No. She couldn't go home. And she couldn't get to Sally. There was only one option left, and he lived about twenty minutes away.

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**And here we go! The Kingpin has finally appeared. You get to picture him however you want, but my choice from the very start has been Terry O'quinn. He can be so cold and frightening at times and I just love everything about the idea that he would be the Kingpin. Also, there are soo many hints and clues in this chapter, but a few of them are REALLY small ones. I'm sure most of you found the big one though ;) And finally, YES, Black Cat is on Kingpin's side! I know it's not really comic cannon, but I never meant to write her in in the beginning, she just managed to slip in when I wrote the chapter she first appears in and I thought it would be a fun reference for all those who likes the comics, so don't come at me! She's not a huge part of this story, but I am so glad that I added her. **

**It's really late so there won't be too many incorrect quotes, but here are a few!**

**Sally:** Sorry I'm late.

**Cindy:** What happened?  
**Sally:** Nothing, I just didn't wanna come.

**ALSO. How many of you are excited about the next chapter?**

**Sally [filling out some forms]:** What's your middle name?  
**Cindy:** Danger.

**Because I SURE AM.**

**Ned:** Knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit.

**Cindy:** Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.

**Peter: **Philosophy is wondering if that makes ketchup a smoothie.

**Sally:** Common sense is knowing that ketchup isn't a fucking smoothie.

**I'M GONNA LOVE WRITING IT.**

**Peter:** You bought a taco?  
**Sally:** Yes

**Peter:** From the truck that hit Cindy?  
**Sally: **Well me starving ain't gonna help her

**AND YOU'RE GONNA LOVE READING IT.**

**That's all from me tonight folks, I really really hope you like it and that I wrote the Kingpin in a neat way. It would mean a lot to me to hear your thoughts on this chapter and if you have found any hints. Good night, love to you all!**


	21. Chapter 20

**Good evening everyone, hope y'all are doing good. It's really late right now so I won't talk so much but saying that I hope you like this chapter, it's a little bit angsty but really soft as well, and I hope I did a good job capturing the characters. I've had this scene in my head for a long time, so hope you enjoy it.**

**A big thanks to SnuffleTruff, PrettyRecklessLaura, Hearteyesmf, Guest, ChigUnnie, SparkShiftYT, KaiserOFLegend, Areanna Solo, uzumaki49, sewellly117, and UnicornQueenLia for reviewing/favoriting/following.**

* * *

The uneven surface of the brick wall scratched against the tips of Cindy's fingers as she climbed downwards. It had taken so much longer to get here than she initially had thought it would. A bullet wound, a few cracked ribs, and a hell of a lot of scrapes and bruises will do that. Her whole body hurt like hell, and her mind felt foggy and distorted. Never in her whole life had she been in such pain before.

She froze as the window she passed lit up, scared that someone might see her, but the person inside had just gone in to get something because a few seconds later it was turned back off again. A shaky breath escaped over her lips and a wave of nausea and dizziness washed over her. Determined, she shook her head and bit at the bottom of her lip.

Not now. Not when she was so close. She only had one more story to go.

She approached the window slowly and climbed down next it. The tips of her fingers nearly lost their grip as she adjusted herself so she wasn't upside-down anymore, her short hair falling into her face. As she reached up to push it away it felt as if someone stabbed a knife into her side and she winced. For a few moments, all she did was taking deep breaths, butterflies tingling in her stomach as she pondered if she had really made the right choice.

Peter and she hadn't exactly been on the best terms lately. She hated to admit it, but going her to ask him for help really was a sour pill to swallow. After how she'd snapped at him and pushed him away this past week, why would he want to help her? She remembered in gym class how he out of anger had bounced the ball almost all the way to the roof. She didn't even _want_ to be here, she'd rather ask anyone else for help, even Flash. But unfortunately, Peter had been the one to unravel the truth about her secret identity. Or rather: unfortunately, he had turned out to be just as self centered as she had thought he was.

After the whole _"She's no Liz Allan"_ incident she should have known he'd showed his true colors, but no. She had let it go and believed him when he said he was sorry for upsetting her and she had started to let him in. Heck, she had even started to like his company again. And she had been let down once again as he revealed what he really thought of her. She was sick of having her emotions played with.

However, she really needed help, and right now it didn't matter what he had said to her or how she had acted back. Right now, what mattered was that her wounds were cleaned and that someone was there if she crashed completely.

Taking a deep breath she swallowed the lump in her throat and peeked through the window. The room looked just like it had the last time she was there, although it was a bit messier – a bunch of stuff were laying on the floor, the bed was unmade, and a bunch of papers, books, and metal pieces were scattered on the desk where Peter was sitting, back facing her. His dark hair had been brushed back neatly and he was wearing their school sweatshirt where he sat hunching over. He was fiddling with something, and every now and then he would sigh deeply and run his hand through his hair.

Cindy bit her bottom lip. This was it. No reason to drag it out.

She exhaled but then stiffened quickly. Soft footsteps were coming their way.

Cindy frowned and pulled back so that just the edge of her eye was peeking through. Peter heard it too and quickly scrambled down whatever he was working on into a drawer, revealing a notebook and their physic book. As his aunt opened the door to his room, he simply looked up, tapping the butt of his pen against the paper.

"I have an early presentation tomorrow morning so I'm saying goodnight now. I'll probably be out of here before you wake up," she smiled warmly and ruffled his hair. He looked up at her with a tired smile.

"Night May, good luck."

Cindy noticed how his aunt hesitated a little, her eyes lingering on his face.

"Peter," she sighed, "is that a bruise?"

She tried to cup his chin to get a better look at it, but he was quicker and pulled back his chair, rubbing a spot on his temple. May continued to say something but this sharp and high pitched noice echoed through Cindy's ears, preventing her from hearing. Dark spots began to appear in front of her and it felt as if the whole world was tilting. She didn't realize that she was falling until her body jerked. Looking up, she realized she had instinctively saved herself by attaching web to the bricks below the window and was now hanging right outside Peter's downstairs neighbor's window. Lucky for Cindy, the ten year old girl was too busy dancing along to some song that had gone viral to notice her.

Once She had finally managed to pull herself back up May had left, but the black spots remained around the edges of her vision. Cindy swallowed hard. She couldn't do this any longer, she had to crash. And she had to get some sort of aspirin. _Asap_.

Holding onto the wall with a firm grip she pulled back her right arm, wincing as her upper arm stung. She bit through the pain and tied her hand into a fist with determination, but just as she was about to knock on the glass, Peter sat straight up and turned around with wide eyes.

Right. He had a spider-sense too.

The boy blinked a few times and Cindy just stared at him. His mouth was ajar and his eyes so wide that wrinkles appeared on his forehead. His dark eyes were staring into hers with question and surprise.

"Cindy?" he whispered to himself. She lowered her arm a bit too quickly, making her wince again as this time her ribs protested, and this seemed to bring Peter to his feet.

In just a second the boy had crossed the room to open the window. It slid open with a low creaking noise and suddenly, he was just inches away.

"Hi," Cindy blurted, like she wasn't in fact hanging outside his window with sweat and dried blood on her face, her soul half gone from her eyes, and a very visible dark stain still growing on her sleeve. "A-are you busy?"

"What's- How- Why-" Peter stuttered in a very high pitched tone while his eyes darted between her scrapes and bruises. She didn't really know why, but the corners of her eyes began to sting like she was chopping onions and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"I screwed up, Peter." She blinked and looked away from him. Damn it. She wished she hadn't come here. "I- I-"

"Okay wait, just… Just get in here." He carefully helped her through the small window, careful not to touch her bleeding arm and he bit on his lower lip when he accidentally nudged her ribcage, making her grunt. Another wave of nausea washed over Cindy and she supported herself against the wall, taking deep breaths with her eyes closed. Peter still stood by her side but kept his distance, afraid that he would cause her pain again. He also kept a weary eye on the door, scared that May would have heard something and come back to check on him.

After a short while, the sickening feeling disappeared and she slumped down to the floor, burying her face in her hands. Geez. All she wanted to do was sleep. To let the darkness take over and swallow her whole.

"Cindy," Peter began. His voice was calmer than it had been a minute ago but it was still edged with (**fright**). "You have to tell me what's going on."

The girl shook her head, too embarrassed to admit what she had done.

"I'm so, so sorry, Peter." There was nothing she could do to keep her bottom lip from quivering but bite it, and she bit on it so hard the taste of iron once again felled her mouth. Her voice was strained and weak. She really didn't have the energy to speak. The poor guy. One second he had been doing homework, and the next a girl he thought hated him fell through his window demanding help. "I had no one else to…" she swallowed some phlegm, "I had nowhere else to go. I need help."

She quickly wiped away the tear that had escaped from her eye and stared down at the wooden floor for a minute, hugging herself as most of her body screamed in pain. Peter kneeled down in front of her, a bit unsure of what to do. The black spots appeared in her visual field again and she allowed them to take her sight, succumbing to the numbing feeling.

The darkness felt warm and soft and the throbbing pain in her chest, back, and arm turned into a soft ache. As quickly as the darkness had taken over her it began to retreat and she growled in protest. Something warm was pressing against her forehead and something slapped gently against her cheek. She cracked an eye open with annoyance to find what was going on.

Peter's face was only a few inches away and his fudgy eyes were filled with worry. He looked rather pale, but maybe it was just the dark circles under his eyes playing a trick on her. The warm pressure on her head, she realized, was his hand keeping her up-straight, and her cheek was throbbing slightly from where he had tapped her with the palm of his hand.

"You passed out," he explained, his brows pinching above his nose. She tried to mumble an apology but wasn't sure wether the words actually came out her mouth or not. "Here, drink."

She blinked her eyes open again and found a half finished glass of juice in front of her face. The smell of oranges hit her and her mouth watered. She took the glass from him with her good hand and swallowed it in a few big gulps. The sweet taste danced on her tongue and tickled her insides with warmth.

"Thanks," she sighed blissfully and gave him a crooked smile. She closed her eyes again and rested her head against the wall, hearing how Peter quickly scrambled to his feet and headed for the door.

"I'll be right back," he hurried to say as he slipped through the door. "Don't go anywhere!"

"Like I can," she scoffed sarcastically and took a deep breath, getting comfortable in her seat. Now that she actually allowed herself to relax she felt a lot better. She wasn't alone, Peter would help her. Her injuries probably weren't that bad anyways…

After a few moments she heard the door open but didn't bother to look up. It was just Peter. Hell, she couldn't have cared less if May came in. She was too exhausted for this.

"Cindy!" Peter hissed at her and quickly closed the door behind him before hurrying over. She groaned in reply and heard how he placed something rather heavy on the floor next to her. The boy's warm hand – it was really hot actually – pressed against her cheek and forced her head upright again. Cindy's face twisted in protest and she groaned. "You have to open your eyes, Cindy. You can't fall asleep!"

"No," she muttered, letting her head loll to the other side instead.

"_Cindy_." He was pleading now but she didn't care. She had gotten her ass kicked by Felicia Hardy and now she just wanted to get some sleep. Was that really too much to ask? He patted at her cheek again but she hardly noticed. Then she did something that _really_ annoyed her.

Grabbing her face with both his hands he forced her head back up and not-so gently blew air straight into her face. The hairs on her neck stood up and she squirmed.

"What are you-" she protested but he shushed her, only to blow at her again. Harder this time.

Cindy's eyes popped open and she tried to push away his face but he moved and she missed him.

"There we go," he chimed, looking rather proud of himself. "I was beginning to consider pouring water on you." She shuddered at the thought and blinked to get the blurry world back into focus.

As the boy turned to pick something up from the ground she realized that what he had gone to retrieve was a big plastic box filled with medical supplies. He held up a little plastic square thing and quickly ripped off one of the sides, taking out a sterilizing cloth. He looked at her with hesitation, biting at the inside of his cheek.

"Okay this is gonna sting pretty bad." She scoffed. _Being thrown into a pillar stung pretty bad_. "You can't scream, okay?"

She attempted to raise a cocky brow, as if saying _"you think I can't handle a little pain?"_, but her muscles didn't want to obey her so she just ended up giving him a twisted grimace.

With a very visible wrinkle between his furrowed brows, Peter brushed the wet cloth over her cheek and down to her chin. As the alcohol touched her small wounds Cindy gasped and tried to move away from him, but his other hand held her in one place. She clenched her jaw so hard her teeth creaked a little and she hummed in pain. The scrapes still stung even when he had moved on to wipe at the skin below her nose, where lots of blood had dried from when Felicia punched her in the face. For a second she wondered if her nose was broken.

She looked up at Peter, who was too focused on getting her cleaned up to noticed, and realized how close they actually were. Not only could she smell the familiar rose scented soap that May always bought, but every time he leaned forwards to examine a scrape or bruise she caught a whiff of his shampoo.

"You have a lot of bruises, but the cuts and scrapes aren't too bad. They'll probably be gone in a few days," he spoke softly and offered a rather comforting smile. Then his eyes found the still bleeding wound on her arm and his face fell. "Cindy…"

He didn't know what to say, and neither did she. However, she knew it needed to be tended to and began to pull the dirty long-sleeve up her body, revealing a white t-shirt underneath that really had seen better days. She couldn't really feel or use her right arm however, which resulted in that she got stuck when she had gotten it over her left shoulder, her forearm still tangled in the sleeve and unable to move. She heaved a sigh, quickly regretting it as her ribs screamed at her, and looked up at the boy in front of her.

Now, despite knowing that she had to get her shirt off no matter what in order to clean the wound, _and_ that she had clothes on underneath, it still felt really weird to ask someone to remove your clothes. Hell, she could have been wearing an oversized hoodie with multiple layers underneath and it would still be embarrassing.

She blew some hair out of her face but it fell back as she looked down at her shoes. Her cheeks burned slightly.

"Help."

It took a second but then Peter, whose cheeks were turning slightly pink, gently began to pull the fabric over her stuck hand and then her head, and then _very_ gently pulling it down her injured arm. Even though he was as careful as if he was dealing with a butterfly it still hurt like hell when the fabric – that thanks to the blood had dried stuck – was peeled off the wound, taking what little crust that had been created with it, causing it to start bleed a shitload, as Sally would have said.

"Oh crap!" Peter breathed and quickly started digging in the box on the floor. With a bad feeling in her gut, Cindy turned her head so that she saw her bare arm and she nearly vomited.

As if it wasn't revolting enough to see her whole arm covered in blood, both dried and still running, the wound itself was like something she'd seen on _Grey's Anatomy_. It was on the edge of her upper arm, meaning that it hadn't actually gone _through_ her arm, just brushed against it, but it was still an inch wide and her skin was sticking out. It was deep, but fortunately it wasn't dirty. Her web-bandage had served its purpose.

"Okay," Peter mumbled to himself, his face pale but focused as he ripped open a package of gauze. He held it out over her wound but hesitated, looking at Cindy. She swallowed and nodded before looking the other way, already clenching her jaw. As the boy put pressure on it, her only instinct was to move away from him as quickly as possible, but she knew she couldn't. If she didn't let him take care of this then she would end up loosing too much blood or risk getting it infected.

"Dear God," she cried through gritted teeth and nearly punched her hand through the wall. Peter muttered that he was sorry and she turned her head so that she could search through the medical box with her good hand until she found some aspirin. Not bothering to ask for a drink, she popped out two pills and dry swallowed them whole. She gagged.

After a while her arm had adapted to the pressure on her arm and it didn't hurt as much anymore. Frankly, she could actually exhale and lean back against the wall. She could feel the vibration from the music in the apartment below, where the young girl was still dancing. She could feel her skip up and down, and then she turned the music up and she could hear the distinguished lyrics of _Dancing Queen_.

"Don't close your eyes," Peter urged beside her and she stirred back to life. She understood he was worried that if she fell asleep right now then maybe she wouldn't wake up again at all. As long as she was awake and talking he knew – and she too – that she would be all right.

"How is it?" she asked quietly, her eyes flickering between the boy and his hand. He looked up at her, a bit relieved that color had started to return to her cheeks and that she seemed a bit more awake now than earlier. He carefully peeled off the gauze to reveal that it had stopped running.

"I think it's okay." Judging by his voice he sounded rather surprised and a smug smile crept onto his lips. He looked up at her with a spark shining in his eyes. "I think I did it." He then frowned at the rest of her arm, which looked like it was a prop from a _Game of Thrones_ episode. "I should probably clean you up though…"

Without checking with her he picked up another sterilizing cloth and gently started rubbing it up and down her hand and forearm. He had to change it twice to get rid of all the blood and dirt, revealing that her skin had an oddly sickening color compared to her other arm. He carefully worked his way up her arm but paused as he came to the gunshot.

"It's gonna hurt?" Cindy asked but she already knew the answer. Peter didn't look at her as he opened another package – the last one – of sterilizing cloth.

"Yeah." He unfolded the white cloth and looked her in the eye. "I'm really sorry."

As he pressed the alcohol against the wound he might as well have poured gasoline all over her arm and lit it on fire. Cindy's toes curled and her whole body began to move and twitch uncontrollably out of pain. She had to slam her hand in front of her mouth to stop herself from screaming.

"I'm so sorry," Peter kept whispering next to her but as much as he wanted it to help, it didn't. He pushed harder on the wound, pressing out all the alcohol from the cloth and into the open gash. Cindy's vision almost disappeared completely and she felt tears rolling down her cheeks. She had removed her hand from her mouth to dig her nails into her thigh in an attempt to avert the pain, but it really didn't work. All that happened was that she now had a shitload of pain both in her arm and on her leg.

"I'm so sorry," Peter's voice murmured softly and in the artificial darkness she felt his strong hand squeeze hers. They sat like that for a full minute, Peter cursing himself for causing her all that pain, and Cindy nearly biting through her lip to keep herself together, salty tears streaming down her face.

"I think it's done now," he said eventually and removed the piece of cloth from her skin. Even though he wasn't touching it anymore it still burned like hell. She was pressing her eyes closed tightly to manage it, not realizing that she clenched her hand a bit too hard as well. "Cindy?"

She took a deep breath and looked up, meeting Peter's warm eyes. He smiled at her and turned his gaze to their intertwined hands and Cindy's eyes followed, realizing she was squeezing his hand so hard her knuckles had turned white and that the tips of his fingers had turned a slightly darker color than the rest of his fingers.

"Sorry," she breathed and immediately let go. As he started digging in the box again she took the opportunity to wipe the fresh tears off her face. She normally wasn't such a crybaby when it came to pain, but this had been excruciating. "I didn't mean to…"

"Don't worry about it," Peter replied, his voice a lot lighter now than it had been ten minutes earlier. The corner of his mouth curled into a subtle smile. "You know. Spider-strength and all."

"Right," she scoffed and felt the corners of her mouth tug. She exhaled and rested her head against the wall again, closing her eyes as Peter wrapped her upper arm with bandage. "Thank you."

"No problem."

They sat in silence for a while. Peter focused on wrapping the bandage tight enough, but not too tight, and Cindy focused on her breathing. The chilly air coming in the still open window had filled the room, and the music from the downstairs apartment had stopped playing. Instead, the sound of Queens buzzing with life played in through the window in a most rueful way.

"There. It's all done."

Cindy's head popped back up and she examined the white band aid that had been wrapped around her arm. To her surprise, it was really neat. Her fingers brushed over the edges, and then finally up over where the wound would be with a frown.

"Do you…" She looked up at Peter with tired eyes, but instead of looking back he was frowning at her arm. "Do you want some ice?"

Her initial instinct was to say no out of politeness, but at second thought, something cold would be really nice.

Before she even opened her mouth Peter had jumped to his feet and already begun to head toward the door. As he passed by it, he bent down to pick up the glass from the floor.

"I'll get you something to drink too," he mumbled, fiddling with the empty glass in his hands. He looked up at her as if to get confirmation. "Are you hungry?"

Cindy smiled probably the purest smile she ever had in her entire life. If it hadn't been for that she had already cried her eyes out she would probably have teared up.

She nodded and whispered a _"thank you"_ as he disappeared through the door. She leaned back against the wall again and allowed her heavy eyelids to fall. She heard Peter scramble about in the kitchen, opening and closing drawers and cabinets. The refrigerator was quickly opened and then closed again.

Biting at the inside of her cheek she thought back to the day the two of them had been on the roof together. _"I can't have you getting in my way"_, he had said rather nonchalantly. _"You're more than welcome to _**_help out_**_"_.

She had been so excruciatingly mad and disappointed with him. Ever since then she had been feeling that he thought he was so much better than her. She had been so mad that she hadn't even bothered to listen to what he had to say the next day.

_"__I never meant to upset you, Cin, you're the only one I can talk to about this stuff. I want us to be in this together. I've thought about what I said and, jeez, you can get in my way as much as you want"_.

_"__I don't want us to be on bad terms"_.

She crinkled her nose at the memory. There had been so much stuff going on lately that she had completely forgotten about what he'd actually said. Sure, he had acted like a pretty typical idiot teenage boy, and he really shouldn't have expressed himself like that, but to be fair, he had tried his best to apologize and make it right. Maybe _she_ was the one who had acted like a jerk.

The refrigerator door opened and closed again. Peter was still moving about in the kitchen. He had been gone for quite a while now. She looked at the box of medical supplies on the floor and then at the scrapes on her palms. She knew she had some on her knees as well, but she probably didn't need to patch them up. Her body would heal them in a day or so. Even her gun shot would be gone within the end of next week.

Light footsteps thumped against the floorboards in the corridor and a second later, the door was pushed open. Peter was balancing the glass of water and a bag of frozen peas in one hand, and a plate with peanut butter toast in the other. He swiftly settled down next to her and placed out the food on the floor in front of them, handing her the freezing peas.

"Thank you," she smiled and pressed it against her shoulder. A sigh of relief escaped her as it numbed the pain. Most of the drowsiness had worn off but she was still tired and disappointed with herself. She had let her dad down.

"You look a lot better now," Peter suddenly spoke softly and Cindy smiled a little, still looking at the floor.

"I feel a lot better," she replied with a croaky voice. Sure, she still felt like hell, but at least she didn't feel like she was gonna pass out or start crying in the near future. It was silent between for a long moment but Cindy bit her lip, knowing that it was only a matter of time before he would ask her the question.

"Cindy?" Peter began. She hummed in reply and tilted her head so that she could see his face. He was looking at her with an unreadable expression. Was he worried, or sad, or angry? "What happened to you?"

Cindy swallowed hard and reached for the glass of water. He handed it to her and she took a few sips buying herself some time to think.

She knew it was wrong to lie to him after he had helped her – he had brought her back to life for God's sake – but at the same time she wanted to keep the Kingpin to herself. To begin with she was too mad at herself and embarrassed to want to talk about what had happened and how she had failed, but also he would think she was absolutely crazy to try and take him down herself. No, right now all she wanted was to forget the man with the cold eyes and never see him again.

"I," Cindy croaked but then paused. "There was this meeting, they were trying to sell some gene manipulation codes and I tried to step in and stop it." Peter looked at her with interest but there was also something else there. Worry and fright. He was smart enough to figure that people running around the city selling gene manipulation codes would not end up well.

"It was just, there was a lot of them," not a lie, "and there was this girl there – you know, from when we ran into each other." She looked up at him with tired eyes and after a second his eyes widened slightly and he nodded.

"Right, I remember her," he muttered.

"Yeah," Cindy sighed and she rubbed her tired hands with the palm of her hand. "I don't know how she did it, but she kind of disconnected my Silk-sense. I really had no chance and she kicked my ass," she snorted.

"What do you mean?" Peter shifted in his seat a little to try to catch her eyes. "Like you couldn't see things coming?" Cindy nodded once and Peter opened his mouth to say something again, but just as he was about to speak he stopped himself and blinked at her. "She… _She_ did this to you?"

Cindy picked up the plate with the peanut butter toast and took a bite. It was really good. "Yeah."

"But, your arm…"

"No, that was some other guy. Like I said, there's something about her, she's not normal. It was like," she took another bite, "she looked at me and my senses went crazy. These guys shot at me but I didn't manage to dodge it."

As Peter sat in silence pondering what she just had told him, Cindy finished her food and gulped down the last of the water.

"I can't believe it," he breathed and then looked at her with this new gleam in his eyes as he understood exactly what must had happened to her. "Really, are you okay?"

Cindy looked at him and gave him a sincere smile. "Yeah, I'm gonna be fine. Thank you for helping me, Peter." The boy cocked a brow at her.

"Of course," he smiled wryly as he cocked a brow at her, like it was a stupid thing to thank for. "Just," he continued and he looked down at his lap, "how come you came to me and not Sally? I mean, isn't she your best friend, and she knows about you?"

Cindy grimaced and dug in her pocket as she spoke. "My phone broke so I couldn't reach her, plus she was way too far away for me to get to her." She held out her black screen as a proof and Peter took it from her hand. He turned if over in his hands with a puzzled look and pressed a few buttons.

"I think it just needs to be rebooted," he muttered and stood up. He walked over to his computer and connected it to the phone with some cable. Cindy couldn't really see what he was doing but he tapped the keys of his computer for a moment before spinning his chair around with a smile. "There, just give it a moment."

"Thanks," Cindy smiled and for a few seconds, the two teens just looked at each other.

A cold breeze entered through the still open window and Cindy shivered. Peter stood up and headed towards the window but Cindy stopped him.

"No, please. I like the fresh air." He frowned at her.

"But you're cold?"

"I'll manage." She looked at him with her big eyes and hoped that he wouldn't fuzz over it too much but he had gotten a different idea in his head.

Before she could say anything he had pulled off his sweater with the school's print, leaving him in a grey t-shirt, and threw it to her before flomping down next to her again. She opened her mouth to protest, but she was too tired to argue. Besides, she _was_ rather cold and the shirt in her hands practically radiated warmth.

She pulled it over her head and looked over at Peter who sat with his arms crossed, and for the first time ever she noticed how defined they were. A few weeks ago they were almost as thin as hers, but now he looked like he had hit the gym five times a week for the past years.

"I get why you wear long sleeves in gym now," Cindy smirked but then instantly blushed and looked away, regretting the comment. Peter's melodic chuckle filled the air and his eyes sparkled when she looked at him again. Cindy's muscles had been more defined as well as an effect of the spider's bite, but not so much that she couldn't wear t-shirts.

It was quiet for a moment again and the both of them leaned back against the wall. They sat quite close, almost so that their shoulders were brushing against each other. Cindy's eyelids kept shutting themselves every now and then.

"Cin?" Peter suddenly whispered. The girl looked up at him but his eyes were focusing on his crossed arms. His brows were slightly pinched together but other than that his face was relaxed. "I'm really sorry about what I said."

Now it was Cindy's turn to look down. She couldn't cross her arms, however, because it would hurt like hell.

"Peter," she began but he jumped in before she could continue.

"It was a really shitty thing to say and I'm sorry about how I acted."

"Peter-"

"I've been going over it in my head so many times and I just wish-"

"_Peter_." Cindy placed a hand on his arm and he looked up at her with shame in his eyes. She gave him a soft smile. Tired, but soft. "It's okay."

For a few seconds he searched in her eyes for signs of untruth.

"Are you sure?"

Now it was Cindy's turn to look down with shame.

"I'm sorry that I didn't listened when you tried to apologize," she admitted. "I was just really mad and there was a lot of other stuff and…" She sighed and rubbed her face with her thumb and index finger.

"No, you had every right to be upset with me, and I'm sorry about how I acted in gym class. I guess I let this spider thing go to my head and it was right of you to tell me off. It helped me get to the ground again." Peter's cheeks had turned a bit pink as he was speaking, as if someone had nipped at them.

Cindy couldn't help but smile. "So, friends again? No more drama?"

Peter looked up with a grin. "Yeah, I'd like that." He then rolled with his eyes and nudged her shoulder with his. "Plus it will make it a lot easier to work on our english project."

"Oh right," Cindy groaned and buried her face in her hands. This report was the worst. "I'm sorry, but I haven't managed to get anything done these past days."

"Yeah me neither," Peter admitted and then continued a little more carefully. "Maybe we can plan in a study session this week?"

A warm feeling of relaxation spread throughout Cindy's body and she stuck out her chin at him. "I'm free on wednesday." She'd be free for a long time after this night. The Kingpin would probably make sure to cover all his tracks and make sure that no one could find him again. Maybe she would be able to track down Kaiser, though…

"Cindy?"

The girl was snapped out of her thoughts and she looked up at Peter. "Hm?"

"You look worried," he stated softly. He seemed more relaxed now that they had talked things through and there wasn't any bad blood between them. Cindy sighed.

"I suppose I am," she murmured, thinking of the crooks she had allowed to slip through her hands. "Peter…"

"Yes?" It was only a whisper.

Cindy shook her head slowly. "This hero thing, how do you do it? I mean, _sure_; I like helping people out every now and then, but these…" she searched for the right word "I mean tracking down these bad people with bad agendas, I don't think I can deal with it anymore. I really don't _want_ to, but at the same time, I know that if I don't, then no one else will."

The boy cleared his throat a little and she smirked at him, bouncing her shoulder against his. He snickered.

"Well," he began, staring mindlessly into space as he leaned his head against the wall. "Like you said, _"if I don't, then no one else will"_. Peter's head lolled to the side so that he looked at Cindy. His face was soft and relaxed but she could tell by the wrinkle above his brow that he was thinking about something certain and as he continued, his voice sounded almost sorrowful. "Our powers allows us to stop things, but just as much let them happen if we just stand by."

"Wow," Cindy breathed. "You've really thought about this." She was actually quite surprised to hear him speak so maturely about this. Peter looked away from her and the corners of his mouth dropped a little. He suddenly felt very stiff and distant and Cindy got the feeling it wasn't for nothing. "Peter?"

The boy just looked at his hands as he fiddled with the cuticles of his nails. Cindy didn't really know what to do. She had never seen him this way before, so off and distant, and she wanted to comfort him but she didn't want to make it worse.

"A few years ago," Peter began but then ended up groaning and hitting the back of his head against the wall.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Cindy mumbled and looked away as well. "It's okay."

"No. I mean…" He sighed and then looked up at one of the pictures on his desk. It pictured him and May and Ben when Peter was quite little. They were outside in a garden of some sort having a picnic and May while May grinned sweetly into the camera, Ben made a grimace that Peter laughed at.

She noticed him smile a little and as he continued, but it really didn't reach his eyes.

"A few years ago I got really upset about something," he shook his head a little. "I think it was something about my parents and I was mad at May and Ben, so when they didn't notice, I snuck out."

"Okay," Cindy mumbled, a bit unsure of where he was going with this.

"I had just turned ten and I thought I was so big and knew everything so I decided to take the subway a few stations. I was gone for the whole afternoon but when it got dark I got scared and ran home again. When I got here…"

Cindy noticed his jaw clench so hard she was afraid he might hurt himself. Geez. When they were ten. That was four years ago. Wait… That was when…

"Ben had taken the car to go look for me while May stayed if I got back, and it was rainy and foggy and," his voice faded a little and a cold lump of lead began to grow in Cindy's stomach.

She knew Ben had died in a car crash, and she remembered that it was raining that day. Her dad had promised her to take her to the park but they had cancelled it and she had been moping about it the whole weekend, feeling so sorry for herself.

God, she couldn't feel worse about it.

_"__It's not your fault,"_ she wanted to say but she knew in her gut that he wouldn't buy it, just like she wouldn't buy that it wasn't her fault that her father was going to jail now. She had screwed up and she had screwed up so bad she would have to regret it her whole life. Just like Peter.

Without thinking really she leaned her head onto his shoulder and placed her hand on his arm. "I'm so sorry, Peter."

"Yeah, me too," he snickered but there was poison in his tone. "I could have stopped it. I should have never run away, but, you know. If you have the ability to stop something from happening, but chose not to, and then it happens, it's on you."

Cindy didn't know what to say, but the weird thing was that she didn't feel like she had to. There was no amount of _"You can't change the past"_ that would make him feel good again. Or her, for that reason. So she simply said what she truly felt on the inside.

"You're right, and it sucks."

Instead of replying with words, Peter let his head rest on top of Cindy's in a weird sort of hug. He had no idea that she had gone through something similar – although she felt bad for even comparing his uncle's death to her father's freedom – had happened to her that very same day.

Peter's shoulder gently bobbed up and down as he breathed but it was soft and warm to rest on. The pain killers had kicked in by then and the throbbing in her body had calmed down a bit, plus that Peter's warm sweater relaxed her muscles. It was dark and probably late. It was a wonder she had managed to stay up for this long without dozing off.

Allowing her heavy eyelids to close she took a final deep breath before allowing the darkness to overtake her once again, but this time it didn't feel cold and shallow but instead warm and welcoming.

Peter noticed how her body relaxed into his and that her breathing became deeper and more even. His body stiffened, even though he was scared to wake her up – God knew she needed to rest after what she had gone through. And then on top of everything he had dumped his whole Ben story on her. She hadn't acted as he expected, though. Everyone who knew about it – which weren't that many: May, a few relatives, and a shrink – always told him how he shouldn't feel bad about what had happened, but it only made him feel worse about it. When people have to reassure you of something, to lead you on so that you won't think bad about yourself, that's when you know you've really screwed up.

A puff of chilly night air danced through the window and gently moved through Cindy's hair. The smell of coconut and lemongrass hit him and he couldn't help but smile a little; the coconut came from her hair, some brand of shampoo that a lot of girls at their school used, although most of them smelled like perfumey, green apples, and the lemon grass came from the soap they always had in their home. Peter had liked the smell of it since he was little and was hanging out at Cindy's for the first time, and he had tried to get May to buy it but she insisted on keeping the hand made rose scented soap bars.

The boy heaved a breath, relieved that the girl on his shoulder finally had started to warm up and relaxed by the nostalgic smells. He didn't even realize he was falling asleep.

* * *

**I really hope you liked this one and I wish I wasn't this tired so I could go on a bit more, but that's not the case so here are some incorrect quotes.**

**Cindy:** Wow, look at your pretty eyes.

**Peter:** I can't.

**Aaand another one.**

**Cindy:** It's so dark out here…

**Peter:** Don't worry, I've got this!

**Peter:** *stomps his light up sketchers*

**Cindy:** Why are you like this?

**Aaand a last one.**

**Cindy:** Hey Peter what's your street name?

**Peter:** Lil' Pete

**Cindy:** You live on a street called "Lil' Pete"?

**Peter:** Oh you meant my address

**I really hope you've liked this chapter, it would mean the world to me if you took the time to write a review so I can hear your thoughts about it. G'night!**


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